Imperial Von Neumann
by Andoriol
Summary: Andoriol Phi 2319 isn't really a hero. Upon his rather unexpected jaunt from Terra in the 3rd Millenium to forgeworld Iacoria in the 41st, he wisely decided to keep his head down, survive, and make the best living he could as a tech-priest. Then Chaos attacked, and survival meant self-promoting to pilot of an Imperial Knight and the attention of the Inquisition.
1. DATA STREAM START

**\\\ DATA STREAM START**

* * *

Data streamed across the screens before me, and after much deliberation and consideration, the weighing of options and probabilities and statistics, drawing on my knowledge of sociology, psychology, and local law, I came to the inevitable conclusion.

This was a _fucking_ stupid plan, and I was _fucking_ stupid for having _fucking_ thought of it.

Also, various more 'fucks' in there, because fuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Things began to assault my head from the inside as the Machine Spirit awoke, starting to speak with me through the data-jack connection I had with it. 'Speak' being a relative term here, the data streams and queries and processors and such all sort of blending together in my head… sort of.

Long story short, the Imperial Knight was… grumpy.

The cameras came online, and I could _see_ , I closed my real eyes and focused on the data it was sending me as the world came into stark relief. Things like the gray towering walls, like the large, nearly mausoleum-esque shell that housed the Knight, like the rich green of the trees of the park beyond the pews.

Like all of the Chaos Stormtroopers surging towards our position.

Ooohhhheheheh yeah, this was gonna _suck_.

Lasers streaked out between the oncoming traitors and the squad of the Imperial Guard that'd been here. Poor bastards hadn't expected this any more than I had, they'd just been taking a break on patrol.

"C'mon c'mon c'monnnnn… boot up…" I muttered under my breath

Audio came in, senses I didn't have assaulting me through the data jack, radio, short-cast, vox, I was suddenly hearing it all and the Machine Spirit wasn't playing nice. Fucking hell.

A Questoris Knight Magaera, Ordnatus Acies Dominus was a nigh unique piece of machinery, thirty-five feet tall from its massive mecha boots to the top of its chassis, its hunched over head between its shoulders, a blessed work of the Ommnissiah due to its guns, complexity, guns, purity, guns, oh, and did I mention the guns? And it was apparently _cranky_ when it awoke!

The pressure at the base of my skull increased, almost like a finger was being dug into my head, a line of fire running up my left bicep and my spine to join it as Ordnatus Acies Dominus' Machine Spirit queried, its voice registering somewhere between the grinding words of an avalanche and golden text.

\\\ WHO SO'TH LIFT THE FIST OF GOD?

"Emergency Protocols: Adeptus Mechanicus Override ; Codesign: Theta Mu Seven Three Five Omikron Gamma Four Theta ; Emergency Pilot Sanctification: Lexmechanic Andoriol Phi 2319," I rattled off the 'sanctification ritual' as quickly as I could, desperately trying to get the powerful Machine Spirit to accept me as a pilot so we could fucking survive! I didn't even know if it would accept my new, likely very low ranking override code but damnit, I had to try! "Acknowledge."

 _'Please oh please oh **please** –'_

\\\ PRIMARY CODE ACCEPTED

 _'Oh thank god! The god-emperor mind, but thank god–!'_

\\\ SECONDARY VERIFICATION REQUIRED

 _'FUCK.'_

\\\ ASSERTAINING PILOT VIABILITY: NOBILITY

The pressure on my skull increased, and it was like a line of fire ants up my arm as the Machine Spirit made its demand.

 _'Wait, what-? What are you talking about?!'_ I squirmed in place at the query, trying to ignore the pain and pay attention to what was happening in the alleyway at the same time.

The mighty Imperial Knight had been held in a mini cathedral set at the intersection of two factories, pews lined around it for the sermons and services that were held around the technological wonder, which was venerated here on the Forge World of Iacroaria. Beyond the little cleared space for worship and housing was a park.

… well, I called it a park because that's what it was analogous to, but in reality it was a place for the genetors to test out their variants of organics, perfectly arranged rows of a variety of trees and pens for beasts of various kinds. But that wasn't as important as _the guys with laser guns shooting at us from behind those trees!_

The audio sensors linked up with my mind with a jerk and a screech, "–rm up! Form up! Toothy! Get in cover you idiot!"

I cringed before suddenly flinching, letting out a little pained sound as Ordnatus Acies Dominus pushed again, lines of fire lighting up inside my head as the words displayed against the back of my eyelids:

\\\ REITERATION: NOBILITY

"I don't know what you want me to do! I do my work for the Emperor! For the Ommnissiah! What do you want from me?! I'm barely more than a Menial right now! I haven't had a chance to do anything noble!" It was almost like someone had dug their fingernails into my arm and dragged them up, peeling away flesh as the Machine Spirit queried again.

"Narcia! Get a grenade over there! Volc! We're on suppressing fir- SKAK!"

Streaks of red surged over the stone pews as the traitors fired freely from the trees, making the guardsmen duck. Even a cursory glance told me that their numbers had increased, we were looking at nearly three dozen traitors slowly advancing through the trees towards us, firing and keeping a mere squad of guardsmen pinned. The Imperial Knight was nestled up in the corner of the two buildings, with two rows of pews leading out that became four near the street that separated the worship-plaza from the park, the loyal guardsmen using the stone pews and Ordnatus' mausoleum for cover.

"Damnit!" I snapped, slamming my fist into the inside of the Knight's chassis with a snarl, my heart threatening to beat a dent into the inside of my Cyber-Mantle as panic surged, "We're under assault by Chaos Guardsmen! If fighting them isn't noble then I don't know what is!"

\\\ IFF DETERMINATION CLARIFICATION

I flinched as the query dug into the inside of my skull like fishhooks twisted about but snarled back, "They've got fucking mutations and daemon weapons! Of _course_ they're Chaos!"

It wasn't a joke either, more than a few of the forces firing on us were obviously and horrifically mutated, one had his lasgun fused with his arm, another had sprouted tentacles, and so on. There was no doubt we were dealing with Chaos. _How the flying fuck we were dealing with Chaos on an otherwise quiet Forge World I had no idea_ , but reality didn't care what was possible!

\\\ IFF DETERMINATION ACCEPTED ; NOBILITY ACCEPTED

" _Now_ can we–"

\\\ COURAGE

"Damnit!"

There was no way this misfit squad of Guardsmen would hold! They were horrifically outnumbered, the traitor guardsmen slowly advancing on us through the trees despite the hail of lasfire, and I couldn't help. I didn't have any guns on me damnit! I barely had any augmentations at all! I couldn't help them down there, that's why I'd scrambled into the Imperial Knight I'd been doing maintenance on. I couldn't fight, no weapons or even things that I could jury-rig into weapons, but even without the appropriate neural jacks, I could at least _try_ to start up the Knight.

\\\ INSUFFICIENT COURA█

"Oh shove it up your ass!" I snapped at the Machine Spirit, anger bubbling inside me, "You can _fry my brain!_ You _are_ frying my brain! I knew this getting in! If that isn't courage then _fuck off_ and _let me out_ in either god damn order so I can at least try to help!"

\\\ █ █ █  
\\\ PROCESSING…  
\\\ COURAGE ACCEPTED

"Thank you! Now can we–"

\\\ HONOR

"Oh fuck off!" This time I punched one of the internal screens of the mech's cockpit, cracking the screen and sending a jolt of pain up my wrist as I likely cracked a bone or two in it, letting out a little pained noise and cradling my injured hand to my red robes.

This wasn't good. There was no two ways about it. My awareness danced about the feed that I was still getting from Ordnatus, trying to pick out how many traitor guardsmen there were, their weapons, anything that might help out if I had to leap out of this damn thing to help. Even if I _hadn't_ been inclined to help, there was no question, they'd kill the 'loyal' techpriest to get the Imperial Knight, the mech was far too valuable. If I at least knew where their commander was, or the most dangerous one of them was I could get the squad to focus fire on… them…

… wait, is that a Chaos Space Marine?

No, wait, that's not a Chaos Space Marine.

 _That's a Chaos Space Marine in Terminator Armor!_

Standing nearly ten feet tall, bulky, and most likely covered in over an inch of adamantium and plasteel with what looked to be a _pair_ of power chainfists! And… oh for fucking fuck's sake, mechadendrites?! Are you shitting me?! A Chaos _Tech_ Marine in Terminator Armor?!

With a sensation almost like someone had speared my nose with a fishhook and tugged my head to the side, Ordnatus regained my attention:

\\\ REITERATION: HONOR

"Oh for fucks- That _thing's_ coming and he's gonna kill all of those guardsmen! He's gonna kill me!" I snapped, my voice cracking just a bit as my heart thudded against my Cyber-Mantle in fear. The Chaos Techmarine was already clearing the trees with thudding footsteps, walking on the asphalt of the road towards the marble plaza that made up the worshiping area for Ordnatus, "And once he does he's going to turn you into a chaos war engine! They need help! So either _let me drive_ or _let me out!"_

\\\ █

Pain and pressure seared at the base of my skull as I waited for an interminably long moment, eyes dancing about through the feed that was still being pumped into my head as I watched the Chaos Terminator casually walk forward through the hail of lasfire, the other mutants and traitor guardsmen still firing from their positions of cover as the Imperial Guard at the feet of Ordnatus fired wildly over the tops of the makeshift cover, trying to keep their heads down. There was even lasfire coming from between the legs of Ordnatus as some Guardsman had the good sense to stay behind the enormous armored legs of the Knight.

There was a scream as a las blast clipped the Felinid chick of the squad, blasting off a flak pauldron and knocking her over!

My teeth ground and I tried to stand out of the chair, the jack at the base of my skull tugging and my right hand reaching back to try and tug it free, "Damnit! Let me out! At the least I can bandage them–"

\\\ CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD: YE NOT GUILTY

Wait, what-?

\\\ FIRING SOLUTIONS AVAILABLE ; WEAPONS ONLINE

I blinked as a H.U.D. flared to life in front of the feed that was being pumped into my head, the pain and fire fading to mere pressure as I could _feel_ the machine around me, the gyros and the calibrations, I could _feel_ the firing arcs as lines traced their way to targets in my head.

Fuck yes! Open fire!

\\\ FIRING.

The lightning cannon kicked and I could _feel_ the jerk like it was in my own limb as untold amounts of energy lanced out, a barely constrained blast of power that slammed into the marble tile mere feet in front of the Chaos Terminator who'd thrown up his hands just as I pulled the metaphorical trigger.

And the world went white.

The optics of the Knight immediately compensated as the street and the outermost set of pews were enveloped by a blast of electromagnetic Suck A Dick. The blast sending a vibration up my– up _Ordnatus'_ legs as it shook the pews, sending dust and bits of concrete flying into the air.

"The warp-?!"

I swept my head about, the linked plasma weapons on either side of Ordnatus' head firing rapidly, bolts of blue-white streaking out and following my sight line as it traced death through the trees, punching holes through the wood and grass well over the heads of the loyal guardsmen.

"Did the cog-head actually do it?!"

"No skakking shit he did!" came a jubiliant cry from one of the others near Ordnatus' feet.

More than a few of the traitor guardsmen threw themselves to the ground, avoiding the bolts of plasma raining down on the park, and my rushed sweeping fire missed another few, but well over a dozen of the enemies / TARGETS were slain / NEUTRALIZED. The dirt and smoke from the blasts was starting to– oh god _damn_ , is that Traitor Marine still up?!

The lightning cannon was still cycling back up for another shot as I watched the superhuman and _apparently_ superhumanly armored warrior roll back up to his feet despite the hulking suit of mechanized protection that had almost certainly played a huge part in his surviving a blast. A blast that had _vaporized_ two stone pews, each nearly a dozen feet across, and had left a still glowing _crater_ in the marble tile, I'd _missed_ , but not by _that_ much!

My head tracked down again, the bolts of plasma firing out rapidly as I tried to align them with what was _by far_ the biggest threat on the field.

Red lenses met my video feed, and in that instant I knew, just _knew_ in my soul that the Chaos Marine was meeting my eyes and staring me down.

Goootta admit, even with the blue-white streaks of death only a few feet from him and myself in a superheavy combat walker, I was _more_ than a bit intimidated. But even if the plasma weapons couldn't puncture his armor, they'd slow him down, knock him down, _stall_ him long enough for the lightning cannon to finish charging up.

An angry beeping rang in my ears and my stomach fell out as the plasma weapons signaled their overheat, cutting off before more than a single bolt of plasma had glanced off the Terminator's thick armor.

I bristled, and Ordnatus took a half step forward with it as I snapped, "Son of a–! Guns! What guns do we got?!"

\\\ HEAVY STORM BOLTER AVAILABLE

The Knight's left hand was barely halfway up, the paired heavy bolters on its back just starting to cycle up as the Chaos Terminator waved those chainfists about quickly, warp lightning flaring around them just as the first bolt shells began exploding at his feet.

But with a flash of… _something_ … the Terminator was gone.

… oh, of _course_ , how silly of me, it wasn't just a Chaos TechMarine, oh no, it wasn't just a Chaos TechMarine in Terminator Armor, no no, it was a Chaos Techmarine _Sorcerer_ in Terminator Armor that I'd managed to piss off.

 _Of course_.

Fuck.

\\\ FIRE INCOMING

Brilliant red streaks impacted the thick armor like raindrops before Ordnatus activated its own Ion Shield, targeting reticles appearing on the traitor guardsmen in a blur and my arm already raising–

 _Ordnatus_ arm was raising! Not mine. The feedback was just ridiculous! But it drew me back to reality rather than my _entirely_ reasonable fears about a Chaos Techmarine Sorcerer! _'Holy crap you're eager!'_

But the Machine Spirit responded almost like it was _prompting_ me, the pressure in my skull and arm almost like a dog tugging at a leash as Odnatus' voice said:

\\\ TARGETS ACQUIERED

"Didn't say it was a bad thing!" I returned to the Machine Spirit, my voice cracking even as I pulled the mental trigger and opened fire with the bolter on the back of Ordnatus' thunderstrike gauntlet, the gun roaring as it sent explosive rounds downrange and tearing up the trees and grass, not to mention the traitors still unfortunate enough to be alive.

"Targets?" I demanded of the Machine Spirit as my… not my _eyes_ , my awareness darted around the feed that the Knight was pumping into my head. An angry red arrow drew my attention down, the barrels of the cooling plasma guns swiveling as well as I hastily searched for the traitor that had gotten to the lines of the Guard-!

… wait, nothing…?

No.

No no _no_. Bad Ordnatus.

\\\ TARGETS ACQUIRED

No. They're _not_ targets. Those are our allies. Yes, that's an Ogryn, and yes, that's a Felinid, but they're Inquisition accepted Abhumans, not Chaos mutated monstrosities.

"By the Throne, good work cog-head!" there was an almost unnoticeable ping as I think one of the guardsmen slapped the side of Ordnatus' leg–

 _'Gah!'_ My teeth ground together as my heart-rate that had been _trying_ to slow down spiked again, and it was like someone had dug a finger in my ear and tried to tug my head around as the Machine Spirit gave me the equivalent of a nasty pop-up.

\\\ ASSAULT DETECTED ; OPEN FIRE?

 _'No! Damnit no! Stop that! Gah, damnit, they're our allies, and if there's traitors here we have other problems!'_ I ground my teeth together for a moment as I drew myself back into the pilot's seat, my hand clenching for just a moment as I moved to force back the Machine Spirit, but the pain of my likely broken hand drawing me back. With a little grunt, I ordered, "Give me the external vox."

"Yay! The bad men are dead! Hehehehee~" the ogryn of the squad was almost _giggling_. The big guy had an even bigger gun, it… I'm… actually not sure what it was at the moment, I hadn't been paying attention.

One of the other guardsmen rushed over to the Felinid, helping her up… she seemed conscious, if dazed. A little bit of blood was seeping from her left shoulder, the pauldron long gone and the skin of it scorched pretty heavily… but she still had her arm at very least.

\\\ EXTERNAL VOX AVAILABLE

My heart was still thudding against the inside of my ribcage and the metal of my Cyber-Mantle, trying to come down from the adrenaline high. I asked, "How are y'all holding up?"

… witty. Good job brain. You're welcome Andy.

"A damn sight better now cog-head," one of the Guardsmen, the sergant I guess, stepped out from the pews, looking up in the general direction of my- _Ordnatus'_ eyes. God _damn_ this was some serious feedback. But the sergeant, a big guy who barely fit into his uniform and armor was beaming up at me, "You bloody mowed those skakkers down with that damn thing! I thought you were just tryin' to hide, but skak me, you proved me wrong."

"Do we have any idea what's going on?" A little part of me was unhappy about the assumption, and Ordnatus itself seemed unhappy about that, but the majority of me agreed, it was a pretty obvious assumption really. "Ordnatus here doesn't have updated vox protocols and…" I listened, confirming, "I'm just getting gibberish on the coms."

"Good damn question," the big man grumbled before shouldering his lasgun and snapping over at one of the other squad members, "Rook! What's the coms sayin'?"

"Unna! Sir! We've- We've-" the relatively young vox specialist started a few times before shouting out, "There's reports of heresy sir!"

"Well skak, I just might die from shock," the sergeant propped his lasgun against his shoulder, "What're the coms saying that's _useful_?"

… I think I like this guy.

"I- give… give me a moment sir."

The sergeant didn't really stand out aside from being damn tall and built like a brick house, but he definitely had an air about him that set him apart as he turned towards the medic and his patient as the rest of the squad gathered around near Ordnatus' feet, "Oi, Oconnel, ya dead yet?"

"Shove it up yourRRRrr- ah…" the Felinid, Oconnel apparently, had made a sound somewhere between a growl and a squeak as the medic had injected her with something before starting to bandage the shoulder, having cut away a good portion of her uniform to do so.

"Good to hear you're doing fine mutie," I very nearly flinched at that even as sergeant Umma turned back to his other men. Felinids were abhumans, they tended to have a very light dusting of fur and feline ears instead of humans, though they could be more or less mutated depending on their 'ethnicity'. They _were_ mutants, technically, but even in the less xenophobic portions of the Imperium like here… the word was powerfully charged and could easily lead to a death sentence–

\\\ TARGET ACQUIRED

 _'Damnit Ordnatus,'_ I rolled my eyes, following the targeting reticle to– _'That's not a– **nevermind** firing!'_

A twitch of my mind sent several bolts of plasma downrange with a rapid set of snap-hiss sounds, blasting one of the traitor guardsmen that I'd apparently missed. There was a tickle of familiarity at that, the sound, it was the first time I'd really heard plasma weaponry fire… where'd I heard that before?

"Skak!" there was a light thump as one of the guardsmen fell over at the sudden sound.

"Oh calm down," the sergeant snapped before looking up at me again, "More?"

"Missed one. Past tense."

"Then keep an eye out there cog-head," Umma said with a little nod.

The soldier with the big vox-system nearly shot up, "Sir!"

"What'cha got?"

"Ch-Chaos is… they're massing forces!"

"Well skak," the big man deadpanned, "Where?"

"One… one klick from our position sir…" a dead silence fell over the group, the vox-specialist visibly swallowing, "They… there's a Warp Rift there that they're pouring out of."

Sergeant Unna frowned, "Well skak, looks like–"

But the vox-specialist wasn't done, interrupting his officer, "They-! Satellites… satellites report they have a Warhound Titan…"

There was an interminable silence at that before the sergeant muttered, a fair bit more subdued this time, "… well… skak."

\\\ ENEMY LOCATION CONFIRMED ; MOVE TO ENGAGE?

I cringed at the leash-tugging in my head, I pointedly closed the metaphorical pop-up and asked, "… what forces does the Guard have in place?"

There were some uncomfortable glances amongst the squad before the sergeant sighed, "You're looking at them. There weren't any other patrols in the area. Warp, _we_ were just here to keep us busy."

"We can stay here until reinforcements come right?" one of the other guardsmen said, a squeak of panic in his tone, "We've got an Imperial Knight here!"

Said Imperial Knight made its opinion on that plan quite well known, and the muscles in my neck and chest spasmed at the intense feedback. I hissed through my teeth at the discomfort, "Ah… no… no, we can't."

The squad jerked in place at that, their heads craning up to look up the thirty some odd feet at Ordnatus' head. The soldier that'd spoken up before squeaking, gripping his long-las rifle almost protectively to his chest, "Wait, what?! Why not?!"

"Ignoring the fact that Imperial Knights aren't really a good defensive unit, or the fact that if we let them get set up and entrenched, I'm not sure if there's sufficient forces on this world to hold off a serious force long enough to hold the planet… Ordnatus Acies Dominus… ah… let's just say that the Knight won't let us do that."

\\\ MOVE TO ENGAGE?

"What do you mean you crazy cog-head?!" my flinch had little to do with the one guardsmen's shout.

"The Knight _wants_ to fight, and either I lead it to the fight, or it kicks me out." I summarized as calmly as I could, "There's… not really another option."

"That- that's madness! There's no way-! It's _Chaos!_ The Great Enemy!" the young sharpshooter shouted, "And they have a Throne damned Titan!"

"And we have Ordnatus," I pointed out, and the Machine Spirit… not purred, but it was pretty close.

"Oi," the sergeant cut in, "Cog-head, you sure they couldn't be driven off?"

"Not against a Warhound Titan and accompanying forces… Iacroaria may be a forge world, but our production is more agricultural and mining than war. If they get entrenched…" I paused thinking of what was in this area. I mean, hell, I've _lived_ here for the past three… no, _four_ years. What my brain provided wasn't good news though. Thanks brain. Welcome Andy. "Yeah, there's an orbital defense station near here, if they get entrenched here, there's good chances that the planet as a whole could fall depending on how many forces they have."

"Skak."

"We- we don't need to rush in!" the same guardsman, one of the ones with a long-las, spoke up again, his voice cracking, "We've got ships in orbit! We could just hold position until reinforcements arrive!"

" _You_ could," I pointed out, " ** _I_** can't. Ordnatus wants to go _now_. I can only tell it no so long. And honestly? I'm going whether you're coming or not." They all fell silent at that, "Iacroaria is my _home_ , and if Ordnatus will let me, I have the power to defend it from Chaos. I'm going to do that."

For a moment, I chewed my lip looking out at the trees, hoping beyond hope that they'd come with me. But honestly, I needed to plan how I was going to do this. Ordnatus had the guns and power to take on a warhound titan, but only if I was clever about it and forced the damn thing into close combat. Ordnatus had its thunderclap claw as well as the underslung chainsword beneath its lightning cannon, if I could get up underneath the warhound's firing arcs, I _should_ be able to bring it down. But that was a lot of ifs, and ignored the very likely possibility of other forms of ordnance aimed my way as well as infantry that could muck things up… stalling may be my best hope but… ugh, it depended really heavily on how things actually were over there…

The sergeant's sudden voice snapped me out of my musings, "Okay, works for me! Form up! We're followin' the cog-head!"

"What-?!" the sharpshooter squeaked, "Are you crazy?!"

"Shoot the bad men?" the ogryn, a hulking, nearly ten-foot-tall mass of muscle and ugly, hefted his big gun after having approached well within personal space of the sergeant.

To my surprise, Unna reached up and patted the ogryn atop the head with surprising tenderness, "Yeah mutie, we're gonna go shoot the bad men for the emprah."

The small mountain of a man giggled gleefully even as the sharpshooter shrieked, "Are you mad?! We'll die!"

"Doing our duty." The sergeant replied succinctly even as I started to do some _proper_ checks on Ordnatus Acies Dominus systems, despite its eagerness, the borderline AI was willing to allow this much.

"Our duty isn't to just throw ourselves under the feet of a Throne damned titan and hoping that it'll trip!"

It was… admittedly a bit of an excuse to avoid dealing with this.

\\\ LIGHTNING CANNON: ONLINE ; TARGETING COMPARISON . . . 2 DEGREES OFF CENTER, CALIBRATING . . . COOLING SYSTEMS 1, 2, 3, ALL GREEN . . . SYSTEM OPERATIONAL  
\\\ REAVER CHAINSWORD: . . . SYSTEM OPERATIONAL

"You warp spawned coward!" the felinid snarled, reaching for her plasma rifle with her good arm, but the advanced weapon was just beyond her reach, "If I-! If we had a Commisar here, they'd have you shot!"

"Good thing we don't then huh?! This is suicide!"

"We don't have time to argue." The sergeant strode straight up to the sharpshooter, shoving a hand out towards the man, "Give me your gun. You can stay here, but we're taking the Emperor's power packs and grenades."

\\\ THUNDERCLAP CLAW: CAPACITORS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 . . . ONLINE . . . SYSTEM OPERATIONAL  
\\\ HEAVY STORM BOLTER: MECHANISMS OPERATIONAL ; TARGETING COMPARISON . . . WITHIN ACCEPTABLE PARAMETERS ; AMMUNTION RESERVES AT 86% . . . SYSTEM OPERATIONAL

I mentally glanced at the data stream from the cameras as most of my head worked on the systems check, I… wasn't exactly _comfortable_ with this, but I didn't really have any authority to interfere outside of the giant robot. Which… _could_ work… but, well… I wasn't sure how to handle it, and I didn't really have the force of personality to pull it off.

"But-"

"Hand them over, get lost, and we _won't_ shoot you."

The Imperial Guard squad either shifted about uncomfortably or glared at the sharpshooter depending on their personal feelings, and I was rather decidedly in the former category even as I continued my check of Ordantus' systems.

\\\ PHASED PLASMA FUSIL: ONLINE, COOLING SYSTEMS 1, 2, 3, 4 . . . COOLING SYSTEM 3 OFFLINE, REBOOTING . . . REBOOT COMPLETE ; SYSTEM ONLINE ; TEST FIRE?

A targeting reticle appeared over the sharpshooter as the Machine Spirit prompted, and I rather pointedly denied it.

\\\ QUAKE CANNON: MECHANISMS OPERATIONAL . . . SHELL LOADED . . . AMMUNITION RESERVES AT 100% . . . SYSTEM OPERATIONAL

Okay, so, right arm was a giant laser gun and chainsword, left arm was a huge power claw with a pair of linked heavy bolters on the back of it, on either side of the head and set into the chassis were the plasma weapons, and on the left shoulder was a fuckhueg artillery piece because _of course there weren't enough guns_.

Yeah… between that and Ordnatus' Ion Flare Shield, if I could get right up into the smaller titan's metaphorical face, I could take it down.

If. If was good.

\\\ MOVE TO ENGAGE?

Once again it was like fishhooks in my head, the fire starting to light up in my left arm and skull as the Machine Spirit pushed harder. It would not be denied much longer. The pain was throwing the dull throb of pain in my likely broken right hand into stark relief and I had to mention, "Sergeant… if you don't start moving, I'm going to _have_ to. Ordnatus' Machine Spirit is… rather difficult to reign in."

My voice was rather strained in spite of my best efforts otherwise, but when I glanced down, I realized that I'd lost some time as the tall man threw the lasrifle over his shoulder, the sharpshooter long gone, "Right, Rook, where's this warp spawned mess?"

"One–" the vox specialist had to pause to swallow, "One klick to the southeast, sir."

"Right, Oconnel, you up to shoot some heretics?"

"I will claw your skakking eyes out!"

"Good to hear mutie!" Sergeant Umma said with near _cheerfulness_ , "Let's move out!"

A twitch of my mind turned off Ordnatus Acies Dominus external vox, and I muttered to myself, "Showtime big guy."

* * *

A.N. - I don't know when to stop. Though this one's going longer / better than many others of mine.


	2. BUFFERING

**\\\ BUFFERING**

* * *

I could feel the asphalt give beneath Ordnatus' feet, the streets hadn't really been built to withstand the multi-ton steps of the mighty Imperial Knight. And it was hard to make it quiet, but I did what I could. Ordnatus wasn't exactly _happy_ about it, but understood my reasoning and was at least mostly helpful when it came to avoiding the few stragglers of the fleeing civilians…

Not that I was technically any different. Just… I wasn't fleeing.

Despite my best efforts to stay calm, my heart was thudding in my chest, it wasn't so bad that it felt like it was slamming against the inside of the metal of my cyber-mantle, but… yeah, tense.

My focus was mainly on the feed from my Auger Servo Skull that I had sent ahead, while normally they needed audio cues or such to work, I was a fucking Techpriest, I'd rigged up a limited vox com in both of my sevoskulls a while ago in anticipation for when I'd add a vox to my implants. No, I didn't have the implant yet, but I had the protocol, and Ordnatus had some serious vox relays in it. It'd work.

The situation my servoskull could see in the… I guess 'plaza' was the best word. It had some silly, long name with a long string of numerical designations that was somewhere on one of my servo-skulls, but I honestly could never remember it. It was a bit of a landmark here in Manufactorum Adepa, it actually reminded me of central park, what with the large, cathedral like skyscrapers of varying sizes to the east, west, and south. The massive stadium-like structure to the north sort of ruined the comparison, but still.

It was an example of a previous Fabricator General's grand work, a massive 'plaza' or 'park' that housed a large amount of bushes and grass… and a single tree.

A Redwood that was over a hundred meters tall.

No, I was _not_ exaggerating.

It was well over ten times the height of Ordnatus itself, it dwarfed the small, cathedral-like skyscrapers around it and was thicker than the streets that led up to the edge of it. Its roots were taller than a man, some of them arched out of the ground high enough that you could walk underneath them without ducking, and the root itself was thicker than you were tall. I knew, it was one of my favorite places to do my studying.

Oh, and there was a bunch of Chaos forces there. Fun fun.

My Servo-Skull wasn't picking out the hulking form of a Space Marine amongst the traitor guardsmen and smattering of hereteks... nor was I seeing anything that looked like a proper daemon... but I _could_ see the aforementioned Warhound Titan.

The hulking monstrosity of metal and violence was prowling about in the open space like a caged predator… waiting… almost… _snarling_. It's hard to put into words. It was bipedal, with reversed legs and even more hunched over than Ordnatus was, but it was easily half again as tall and probably three times the mass.

Ordnatus' heavy footfalls continued as I approached the eastern edge by way of one of the major thoroughfares, heading straight towards the plaza. The street I was approaching down didn't have a direct line to the plaza, instead dead-ending right into one of the tall, blocky skyscrapers. It'd shield my approach visually, but the 'alleyways' on either side of the skyscraper were large enough to allow Ordnatus or the Titan to get past.

 _Perfect_.

The issue here was simple, I was _massively_ outgunned and outarmored. Ordnatus had a terrifying amount of firepower for an Imperial Knight, but that didn't compare to any of the weapons a Warhound Titan would be carrying. Not to mention that while I had an Ion Flare Shield, the Titan would have fucking _Void Shields_. Urp.

So the only option was to draw the Warhound into melee, where Ordnatus had some serious advantages.

Y'know, like having melee weapons in the first place.

\\\ THE LEFT HAND OF GOD SHALL RENDER JUDGEMENT UNTO THE HERETICS

My lips quirked up into a little smile. Despite my own fears, the Imperial Knights eagerness was actually comforting. I was carefully keeping an eye on my emotional reactions, my first response to fear like this was _anger_ , but… well… Chaos Gods.

That said, even beyond that, this was delicate. The massive stadium-like structure to the north of the plaza was where they performed massive scale biosphere tests or experiments. It was quite impressive, nearly as tall as the Redwood.

But just beyond it? Was the orbital defense cannon.

Once they started to move… if they broke into the biosphere testing range they'd actually be shielded from air superiority until they bust out the other side, where they'd then be literally at the doors of the orbital defense cannon, and if they took that…

I forced down the concerns. I'd already known I had to do _something_ , this just confirmed it. They had to be stopped or at least stalled right here and now.

Eyeballing it… it definitely looked like they were securing the plaza. The beginnings of cover and what looked like turrets, it looked like there was… a hundred…? Two…?

\\\ 197 MUTATED HUMANS ; 13 HERETEK TECHPRIESTS ; 1 CHAOS REAVER TITAN  
\\\ ALL HERETICS ; MOVE TO PURGE?

 _'Ah, yes, thank you Ordnatus. We already are, we'll be there in a moment.'_ But… I didn't see any rift in the air for them to have been… coming… through…

… oh… so _that's_ the Warp Rift… that's… that's actually kinda freaky…

It was this… the hell do you call it? Like, the bark of the Redwood had cracked and fallen inward into this… enormous fleshy membrane, like skin stretch so taut that you could see the veins, dark lines against the glow within. And when the servo-skull zoomed in, I could see heretek techpriests and traitor guardsmen push their way through it, the membrane stretching until it tore like… like some terrible parody of birth before it sealed up behind them only for the next one to push their way through moments later. It was large enough that there was no doubt that the Warhound Titan had come through there.

Right, okay, _that's_ terrifying. _Definitely_ gotta stop this here and now though.

"Sergeant, I'm moving to engage, how are you?" I said into the cockpit, my eyes closed as I paid attention to the multiple feeds of information coming into my head. My probably-broken hand was cradled to my chest as I did my best to ignore my fleshy body in favor of Ordnatus' instead.

"Getting set up now cog-head, what about you?"

I kept a close eye on the Warhound's footsteps, matching Ordnatus pace to its own as best I could as I made the final approach, "Should be engaging in just a sec… I'll let you know."

"Right, best of luck with that, don't go dyin' on us and stuff. Oi! Rook! Get yourself set up damnit!"

With a small shake of my head, I cut off the vox, focusing on the feeds from Ordnatus and my servoskull.

It was only a few seconds later that I came to a stop just a bit before the end of the street, only a few steps before I could peek around the edges of the gothic skyscraper. Deep breath. _'Right, gotta do this, let's make it happen.'_ "Ordnatus, give me a projection of the quake cannon's firing arc."

\\\ KNOW WHERE THE JUDGEMENT SHALL FALL

A brilliant red arcing cone appeared in my perception, reaching over Ordnatus' left shoulder. It took a little working at it since I didn't have a comparative limb on my own body, but I quickly got the hang of it once I made the rather obvious connection that it was a lot like learning how to use my scribe-tines implant. After just a bit of fiddling I finally got it working, the arc slowly climbing at a steeper and steeper angle.

Problem is that Ordnatus didn't have any protocols for how to integrate the two feeds, so I couldn't see it on the image I was getting from the servoskull, and a mighty Machine Spirit Ordnatus may have been, but that's all it was. A _Machine Spirit_. _Not_ a full AI. It simply _couldn't_ adapt its code to that level. Machine Spirits were 'dumb' AI, more along the lines of what a video game programmer meant by the term than what a futurist meant.

I… _might_ have been able to hodge together something about the estimated range as a waypoint in the servoskull's feed but… yeah, _not_ happening on this timescale. Practical problem, practical solution.

"So…" I sighed out, eyes closed, a throb of pain coming from my right hand before I forced it to relax, "Looks like I'm eyeballin' it."

A twitch of thought turned the vox back on, "Sergeant Umma, are you in position?"

"Finishing up now cog-head, what, you gonna start shooting?"

"Just about to." I hesitated for just an instant before adding, "You stay safe. I'm the one in the giant robot, you're not."

"Pfft, don't worry about _that,_ cog-head."

"Right. Opening fire," I slowly turned, leading the Titan by just a hint, "… _now_."

With a thunderous boom, the quake cannon _kicked_ , and even braced as it was, I could feel the asphalt buckle beneath Ordnatus' feet from the force of the recoil of the heavy cannon. The sound, even muffled by Ordinatus' chassis, was _deafening_ , there was no doubt that everything within miles heard the boom.

For just an instant I thought that I could see it hurtling off, arcing over the skyscrapers and into the plaza…

There was actually a brief moment as the shot echoed like thunder, the traitor forces snapping to attention, the soldiers and warhound raising their guns, searching around for the source of the sound even as the shell was in transit.

And then the moment was over, and the round hit.

I _felt_ the explosion as a tremor in the ground, and a vicious little grin found itself on my face because my aim had been right on! The flash of the shell's impact explosion completely obscuring the Titan's head, making the massive machine buckle!

For just the briefest of instants, I had hope that I'd taken it out of the fight, but the damn thing _roared,_ standing once again and almost bristling with obvious anger. Damn, void shields had been up. Still, I'd definitely gotten the piece of shit's attention.

\\\ MOVE TO ENGAGE?

"Yeah," despite my focus, I could feel the cold sweat on my skin, my heart pounding like a drum, "Let's go!"

We broke into a full run, both melee weapons powering up even as the quake cannon reloaded. Even if we didn't use it again, I'd rather have it as an option than otherwise!

Two, three, four steps later and Ordnatus and I had to lean against our own momentum, gyros and servos screaming in my head as I juked Ordnatus around the skyscraper, sending bits of asphalt into the air with the twists of movement that you'd never expect something this size to be capable of.

Barely coming to a stop just peeking around the edge of the massive building into the plaza, I raised my arms as my eyes rapidly searched for the– there!

The sound the Titan let out was something like a snarl as its head swiveled towards me, its mighty gun-arms raising much like mine were. But I had just an instant more warning, and I milked that instant for all it was worth!

Every gun on Ordnatus unloaded into the Titan.

Its guns thundered and spat, bolts of plasma and bolter shells splashed uselessly against the flashes of black of the void shield. The roaring crack of the lightning cannon accompanied the lightning bolt and explosion of white as the mighty cannon struck like its namesake.

My aim was shit, the triggers pulled too early, some bolter shells and plasma bolts slamming uselessly into the ground at the feet of the Titan as I tracked upwards. But it's fucking hard to miss several thousand tons of war machine. I traced a line of fire up the Titan's body, the rapid fire weapons splashing uselessly against the titan's Void shield; the lightning cannon's blast struck just over the Titan's left leg, causing a black bubble to briefly flare into existence around the chaos war-machine before evaporating like a popped balloon!

And in the next instant the Chaos Titan returned fire, and I knew the term regret.

With a roar like the demon from the pits of hell it was, the Titan showed what true plasma and bolter weapons were like. Its arm mounted weapons, an enormous rotary bolter and powerful plasma cannon fired.

I could _see_ bolter shells bouncing off of the forward ion shield, but even as I tried to reverse direction the massive glob of superheated gas _slammed_ into the shield–!

The impact knocked the air out of my lungs, forcing Ordnatus to stumble back a step to maintain balance! _'Fucking hell! It was like getting hit by a damn linebacker!'_

Warning klaxons flared in my head as the forward armor was superheated just by the mere proximity of the plasma! I grit my teeth and held down the triggers for Ordnatus plasma and bolter weapons even as I backed up as quickly as I could, bolter shells raining down on my own shield as I did.

In the corner of my perception I could see the warning flashing for the ion shield as the bolter shells were exploding on impact with it even as I dipped back behind the edge of the building.

With a voice that rumbled like an avalanche, warbling in pitch with layers of notes just a quarter step off from harmony, the chaos titan _roared,_ **"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!"**

My teeth grit at the scratching sensation inside my skull and chest, a little tremor of perfectly rational fear going through me for the briefest moment before hot anger replaced it, and I muttered, "That's right, come and get me."

 **"SLAUGHTER THE FOLLOWERS OF THE CORPSE-GOD!"**

Lasfire splashed uselessly against the shield as I backed up, and I sent several shots into the guardsmen and hereteks that I could still see from this position even as the ground beneath my feet shook with every step of the Titan as it rushed towards me.

My focus was on the feed from my servoskull rather than on what Ordnatus was showing me, watching its approach as the quake cannon loaded and the lightning cannon recharged, I'd be able to get off another volley before the Titan got around… the… its angle is off…? Why is its- _it's coming through the building?!_

I twisted in place, planting my feet as I faced the skyscraper, just instants before the Warhound Titan crashed through the gothic structure like some nightmarish parody of the Kool-Aid man!

 **"THE EMPEROR IS DEAD!"** Plaster and stone rained down onto me from the monstrosity as its rotary bolter opened fire, but fuck that! **"AND YOU SHALL JOIN TH–"**

Instead of retreating as it'd expected, instead of being surprised and bowled over, I braced myself and pushed forward! With a snarl, I pushed forward and the world shook as the two behemoths literally slammed into each other!

Ordnatus bounced off of the heavier machine, but it'd canceled both of our momentums, making the Warhound Titan take a step back.

The impact was deafening, but even from the bad positioning I swung the roaring chainsword beneath the lightning cannon up, the massive thing glancing off of the titans armor.

Servos surged and whined as they tried to match my intentions as I stepped in, the thunderclap claw swinging upwards and reaching up over Ordnatus head to uppercut the cockpit of the Titan! Lightning jumped between the extended fist and the beat's head as it stumbled back.

\\\ MOVE TO ENGAGE?

"Fuck yes!" I snarled.

\\\ JUDGEMENT SHALL BE RENDERED

The chainsword was swung back around as Ordnatus stepped in, under the envelop of the Void shield, completely whiffing as the chaos titan realized their error, stumbling backwards, trying to make space!

Not if I had anything to say about it!

With a wordless roar, I almost charged forward, uncaring of the rumbling of the skyscraper beside us. The chainsword sung the same song as I, glancing off of the Titans armor once more as I desperately tried to stay close to the larger war machine!

 **"YOUR EMPEROR IS A FALSE GOD!"**

"Fuck you too!" The top of Ordnatus' chassis was just short of being able to fit beneath the body of the titan, and so long as I stayed practically underneath it, I could limit the amount of firepower it could bring to bear!

A flash of heat drew a hiss of pain from me as the plasma cannon fired once more, barely clipping Ordnatus' left shoulder!

\\\ QUAKE CANNON DAMAGED ; ENGAGING HEART OF OMNISIAH

"Get back here!" my own plasma weapons fired rapidly, scorching patches of the titans forward armor as it furiously backpedaled. But I pursued, refusing to allow it to create that distance!

The thunderclap claw swung about rapidly, barely missing the cockpit once more, but like a pendulum, I swung back around and brought the chainsword around in an overhead strike!

Adamantium teeth spun and ground as they slammed right on top of the titan's cockpit, grinding and tearing their way through its thick armor! And _screams_ filled the air; the screams of metal twisting and tearing, the scream of the motors of the chainsword, and the screams of the damned as the chaos machine was wounded!

Blood and oil spewed forth, splattering Ordnatus' forward cameras as the chainblade worked, but the Warhound tore away from the blow, its roaring voice gurgling as it fired blindly; dark fluids pouring from the gaping gash in its… cockpit…? Head…? I didn't know.

The lightning cannon's barrel leveled with the cockpit.

And I didn't care.

Static flared across my senses as the electromagnetic pulse from the cannon went off at point blank range, well within both of our shields. My vision cleared to reveal the scorched and damaged titan stumbling backwards, as if I'd let it!

\\\ RENDERING JUDGEMENT  
\\\ REACTOR OUTPUT AT 97%...

I stepped forward, left hand coming up to grab side of the titan's cockpit, adamantium blades digging into its hull as the power field crackled with blue lightning–

\\\ OUR HEART BURNS WITH GLORY  
\\\ REACTOR OUTPUT AT 117%...

Grinding my teeth together, I _pulled,_ feet digging into the ground as I pulled the behemoth off balance, sending the violation of physical laws toppling towards the ground. The massive chaos titan taking several impossibly long seconds to fall, and fall it did. Several thousand tons of adamantium and ceramite hit the grassy dirt, pulled by the inexorable tug of gravity, transferring enormous amounts of kinetic energy to the ground as it came to a sudden stop.

The limbs of the Redwood shook, the tremors going through the ground and up Ordnatus legs.

\\\ VICTORY INEVITABLE  
\\\ REACTOR OUTPUT AT 136%...

Power thrummed through my limb, an electric buzz as the reactor pushed beyond its normal limits, the fusion reactor heart of Ordnatus running even further beyond safety tolerances than it had before! Blue bolts of baryonic matter bond breaking power arced from the thunderclap claw as the capacitors charged beyond their capacity.

\\\ REACTOR OUTPUT A 150%...  
\\\ DELIVERING JUDGEMENT

I had no witty commentary, no Bond one liner, no snarky quip, just adrenaline, just fear, just _righteous anger_.

This world had become my home, and I wasn't going to let them take it!

With a wordless scream, I brought the claws down on the prone Chaos Titan.

\\\ HERESY

The overcharged capacitors discharged with a bang worthy of their name as adamantium blades buried themselves into the monster's armor, terrifying forces rippling out from the fist and shredding the torso of the Titan open like a dozen firecrackers place inside of tinfoil, shredded bits of armor and electronic shrapnel smacking uselessly against my front.

\\\ TARGET'S REACTOR CONTAINMENT BREACHED… ENERGY SIGNAL FADING… JUDGEMENT RENDERED.  
\\\ REACTOR VENTING

I stood there for a long moment, thunderclap claw buried in the titan's torso. My chest heaving as I stared at the screen before me, eyes on it as well as the feed into my head, almost… disbelieving.

The furious melee had pushed its way into the plaza, and now… now the massive chaos titan lay there in the impact crater from its fall… My heart was still thundering against the inside of my cyber-mantle as I started to realize that my skin was cold and clammy, my right hand aching desperately with how tightly it'd been clenched, starting to untangle my perceptions from those of Ordnatus' feed, a grin starting to spread across my face–

PAIN.

"Agh!" a half-scream tore itself from my throat even as I ripped the claw from the titan's corpse, backpedaling away from it. It was like-! Like fucking white hot needles had been shoved into my temples! Fuck!

Tears running freely down my face, Ordnatus' head swung around, searching for the source of attack, my vision inside the cockpit was actually blurry but the feed was steady–

There!

Hoarfrost coated the ground and a portion of the base of the Redwood, a sphere around the small, almost insignificant little man with a birds head and a large staff, some innumerable number of wings scattered along its body.

"Are you _shitting_ me?!" I half shrieked, fury building in my chest in spite of myself, " _Another_ sorcerer?!"

And like some switch had been flipped, every guardsman in the plaza opened fire.

Lasers peppered Ordnatus' form even as I rapidly tried to reorient the shield as more and more of these little pinpricks of pain made themselves known across my skin… across Ordnatus' hull. Some were rushing at me carrying guns, others trying desperately to set up heavier guns, but for all of Ordnatus' power, it couldn't withstand such a volume of fire.

"Fuck, right," gritting my teeth, I did something that set Ordnatus to metaphorically screaming at me.

I turned tail and ran.

Enormous feet slammed into the dirt, kicking up soil and grass even as the shield oriented behind me, eyes desperately searching for… there! The waypoint!

"Headed your way sarge!"

"No, really?" the sergeant half-snapped over the vox, "That shit could've woken the Emperor on his throne!"

I couldn't help the little grin as Ordnatus thundered between two of the skyscrapers, rushing towards the waypoint I'd set previously. Laughter, nervous and relieved at the same time, bubbled up in my throat, "It's a surprise! I know! I'm even bringing some friends to the party!"

Pain flared in one of my legs, making me stumble momentarily, nearly sending Ordnatus tumbling over, but only just. I regained my balance instants later, stumbling through a half-turn before walking backwards at speed.

 _'What had- Meltas! Shit!'_

Clenching my teeth, I opened fire with the bolter into the forming up masses of the traitor guardsmen, an angry beep sounding in my skull when I tried to fire with the plasma weapons, "What-?!"

\\\ REACTOR COOLING ; ENERGY WEAPONS UNAVAILABLE

"Fuck!" I cursed even as I swept the arm back and forth, backing up quickly, Ordnatus' feet finally finding asphalt as I backpedaled, "Coming in hot sergeant!"

"Don't use military terms if you don't know them cog-head! And we see it!"

Las-fire and the wavy distortions of melta weapons glanced off of the ion flare shield, the soldiers of chaos starting to surge forward like the tides– god damnit! Some of them are even rushing at me with chainswords?! The hell?!

"Sir–?" the felinid's voice crackled over the vox, audible over the growing volume and pitch of the shield's alarm in my head.

"Hold your fire!" he cut her off, "Let them get closer"

 _'Ordnatus! How long before we have energy weapons?!'_

\\\ 47 Seconds.

"Sergeant!" My voice cracked in spite of myself before I swallowed, slowing my fire to controlled bursts as the skyscrapers funneled the guardsmen forward, my voice stronger as I said, "I've only got my bolters right now!"

"Just keep backing up cog-head, you're almost there… just a few more steps okay?"

The thunderous dakkadakkadakka of the bolters sent phantom vibrations up my left arm, the traitor guardsmen firing from what little cover they had even as others surged forward without fear, frothing at the mouth as they charged straight at me.

"Come on cog head, just a bit further, just a little bit, you can do it," the guardsman's voice was a surprisingly soothing and calming thing, making it far easier to fire in controlled bursts of death into the front lines of the charging madmen.

\\\ 20 Seconds

"There! Light'm up!"

The windows of the buildings on either side of the street blew open as the Imperial Guard opened fire. Photons and lead raining down into the street atop the closing throng of frenzied berserkers.

There were screams from them, of pain or pleasure… I don't think anyone knew, and I don't think I _wanted_ to know. Because all I cared about was the fact that the rain of death put them down.

A quick turn later, and I'd ducked into a street, putting several buildings between me and the traitors. Well holy fuck, this was actually working. A grin spread across my face even as my chest heaved, my heart beating furiously in my chest.

I chewed my lip even as the mental counter for the reactor cooling ticked down, "Ordnatus, give me a scan of block 2A Sigmus. Life signs?"

\\\ PROCESSING . . . LIFE SIGNS IN LOT 2A SIGMUS NEGATIVE

Nodding to myself I muttered, "Good…"

\\\ REACTOR VENTING COMPLETE ; ENERGY WEAPONS AVAILABLE ; MOVE TO ENGAGE?

"Just a sec big guy," a twitch of my thoughts turned the vox back on, "Sergeant! Do you need fire support?"

"Do we? Are you crazier than I thought cog-head?"

"Right _now_ ," I clarified, "I have an _idea_."

There was the briefest pause from the guardsmen on the other side of the vox, "If it's anything like the idea to grab the Knight, then I'm all for it! You heard the cog-head girls! Let's keep those heretics busy!"

"Sir yes sir!"

A little grin found itself on my face as I swung Ordnatus around, heading south once more.

Turning down a street so quickly that I left torn up streaks in the asphalt, I rushed down the street I had first approached the plaza from and– there! The building the titan had crashed through!

I grinned.

\\\ QUAKE CANNON REPAIRS COMPLETE ; MOVE TO ENGAGE?

"Perfect! Showtime big guy, act two, enter stage left!"

We charged right back into the plaza, turning and skidding to a halt, sending a wave of dirt and grass into the air like snow from an ice skater doing the same.

Shouts of surprise came from the nearest of the traitor soldiers, guns trying to swivel towards me, but I had other plans. Where's the– _there!_ The sorc–

 ** _PAIN_**.

Something in my head burst.

Ordnatus stumbled and my teeth _ground_ together, it was like liquid pain had been poured into my head! Needles and fire and bites and scratching teeth-! I couldn't see out of my right eye, and my vision in my left was fucked, I actually felt something dribble down my face that decidedly _weren't_ tears.

But I was still _conscious_.

Now _that_ was a mistake.

\\\ RETURN FIRE?

The twin cannon leveled "Fuck yes!"

The two cannons leveled out and I couldn't help but grin.

With recoil powerful enough to push Ordnatus back several feet, both the lightning and quake cannons fired… right into the base of the already heavily damaged skyscraper.

"Timber."

The gothic building rumbled, and I could actually hear one of the traitor guardsmen mutter, "… aw skak…"

With a _bang_ , something within the massive building gave, and the building began to lean in earnest, and in spite of the temptation, I didn't stand idly by as the building collapsed into the plaza. I opened fire freely into the damn sorcerer, and despite some shots going wild as the signals I was sending were scrambled, despite the sorcerer glowing with terrible warp power and creating a field of crackling energy, the barrier the sorcerer had thrown up popped like a water balloon under the concentrated rain of bolter shells and plasma bolts.

The psyker themselves popped seconds later, shredded by shrapnel and scorched by superheated steam sourced from their own sullied skin.

As the sorcerer died, the chaos-warped guardsmen tried to turn and run, but gravity's inexorable power was quit determined to introduce them to the skyscraper.

My world swam as the ground shook, uncountable tons of concrete and steel and glass hitting the ground, nearly knocking Ordnatus off of its feet.

"Skak! Was that you cog-head?!"

"Eyup!" I said with _far_ too much cheer, right eye clenched tight in an attempt to keep the feeling of things dribbling out of it to a minimum. Because that's a bad feeling.

"By the _Throne_ , nice shot."

"Thanks," I smugged with a little chuckle, my mirth fading just a bit as I asked, "How are y'all holding up?" Bolts of plasma lanced out as I swept my awareness across the portion of the plaza that _wasn't_ cut off by the rubble, "I'm gonna be a bit for me to get back around and provide fire-support."

I blinked my left eye a few times before shaking my head a little, that… hadn't made sense.

" _Don't._ " Sergeant Umma cut me off before I'd even gotten half turned, disregarding my flub, "We can hold here, you flank the heretics. Any chance you can close the portal they're using to get through?"

"I–… I _might_ have a solution…" I noted as I began to move, bolters firing even as the traitors still in Ordnatus' sight fled… was… was that blood I was smelling…? "It involves explosions."

"Sounds good enough to me!"

I actually refrained from opening fire with either of my cannons even after they were ready, instead using Ordnatus' plasma cannons and heavy bolters to mop up the guardsmen as I swung around the Redwood.

Green lasers lashed out from the guardsmen as they turned, red streaks flashing out from the street Umma's squad was holed up in. A quick glance at the membranous warp rift- Something big and blocky and distinctly tank-like was starting to push its way through.

Yyyyeaaahhhh… let's go with no.

Ordnatus twin cannons spoke, and the entire Redwood shook, bark and blood flying everywhere. Why the hell a _tree_ was bleeding like that… fucking chaos.

And then it exploded _again_.

Wait, what-?

The vox crackled and a synthesized, androgynous voice came over it, "Pilot of Ordnatus Acies Dominus, identify yourself."

"Ah," it took a half moment for my brain to catch up to what was happening, "Lexmechanic Andoriol Phi 2319."

Rockets flew from the air into the traitor forces, and Ordnatus head tracked upwards to find a half dozen light, landspeeder-style aircraft firing down into the scattering forces, "Lexmechanic, you are not authorized to pilot that machine."

"I'm aware," I said as calmly as I could manage, only just now realizing how heavily I was breathing, "I… I judged the offense to the Omnissiah to be less than the offense of allowing these traitors to defile his works."

Raw bullshit, but also kinda true. Sorta funny that…

There was silence on the vox for a long moment, and I very seriously considered opening fire into the chaos-guardsmen again, but held off. Definitely wouldn't do me any favors in the eyes of the Adeptus Mechanicus to further 'offend the machine spirits'.

\\\ MOVE TO ENGAGE?

A small smile crossed my face, not that Ordnatus seemed all that offended.

"Lexmechanic, move to the following location," a waypoint appeared on Ordnatus' feed, "And power down Ordnatus Acies Dominus for repairs before turning yourself in for investigation."

The Imperial Knight didn't growl, but it _did_ rather pointedly light every single remaining traitor guardsman up with a targeting reticle, like a big dog pulling at a leash.

But I pulled it back, "Acknowledged. Disengaging."

The smell of blood and sweat and something else entirely disgusting saturated the cockpit, my skin was clammy and cold and my heart beating furiously in my chest as I tried to come down from the adrenaline high, my ears were… actually ringing from the deafening guns and impacts, pain throbbed in my right hand and my entire head… my vision was blurry in my left eye and… I didn't really want to think about my right… and I… I think there's some blood dribbling from my nose and ears… I…

Ordnatus heavy footfalls cracked asphalt as the mighty machine strode towards the designated waypoint.

I… I think I'm happy with this result though… this… this is a fair sight better than I expected for a first fight here… considering… where I was…

Now to… deal with the consequences…

* * *

A.N. - N/A


	3. INITIALIZING

**\\\ INITIALIZING**

* * *

"Skak."

Wincing slightly, I cracked open my left eye, blinking against the candlelight to try and focus on... Sergeant Umma…? "What?"

"You look like you took a stroll through the warp without a ship," the large man said without preamble.

"And you look like an ork that got hit with an ugly stick a few extra times, so, y'know," I gave a little shrug, a little strained grin on my face, "You look how you did before all this mess started, which I guess is a good thing."

There was a giggle from somewhere off beside the guardsman even as Umma beamed at me, "Well you can't be feeling too bad if you're cracking jokes like that cog-head."

"Au contraire," I countered quietly, letting my eye close and sinking back onto the metal bench, carefully holding the bag of coolant to my forehead with my scribe-tines, "I feel even worse than I look."

"That's impressive," a feminine voice said from the same general area as Umma, getting closer, "You look pretty bad."

"Not _actually_ that bad off," I admittedly quietly, trying to place the voice. I _know_ I'd heard it just recently, "Just _feel_ like skak."

"How'd it happen?" Umma asked, "I thought you were in the damn Knight the whole time."

Condensation ran down my head from the coolant pack, "Sorcerer skipped the armor, tried to blow my head off from the inside."

The feminine voice let out a strangled little noise, and after a moment of silence the sergeant muttered, "… well skak. How do you still have a head?"

"My eye and eardrums popped, venting the pressure." I gestured at my head limply with my bandaged hand. The magos genetor had cleaned me up, cleaning the blood from my ears and eye, and had delicately if disconcertingly removed what was left of my right eye after applying local anesthetic, that didn't do much for the burst blood vessels beneath my skin or such, "So, please… don't get too loud?"

"Skak, at least you blew the bastard up."

A smile quite determinedly found itself on my face, not that I disagreed with its presence too much, "Yes, yes I did."

There was some more shifting around me, sounding like they were sitting down.

I was in a holding cell, laid flat out on my back across one of the metal benches. Okay, it wasn't a holding cell, it looked to be a room for holding servitors that were going haywire, with benches for laying them down on to work on. So it wasn't really a holding cell, but it was a holding cell.

My robes had been removed so they could check me over, though they'd left me my shirt, boots, and pants, I'd rolled up my shirt to use as a pillow rather than just laying on the slab.

The room usually was pretty dark, only lit by the door, but they'd set up a few candles in here as well. The general sense I got was a mix of irritation for the disruption, respect at what I'd done, and a resigned diligence at the investigation. I hadn't been treated badly, but not exactly gently either, little more than a check-up and cleaning to make sure there was no obvious signs of chaos contamination or life-threatening damage.

A soft finger pokes my head lightly and I wince, the finger immediately pulling away, "Sorry! Sorry…" Cracking open an… my eye, I look up into the candlelight to find the felinid from the squad standing over me, hand still up from being withdrawn quickly, "Sorry, just… I didn't realize they shaved your head in the mechanicus…"

"They don't, usually. But they shaved mine to give me my implants," I gestured with my bandaged right hand again, this time at the base of my skull where there were a few disparate plates of metal instead of skin, as well as the Mind Interface Unit jack, "I've just kept it up since I'm going to get a few more in time."

My hand dropped back to my chest, and I could hear the felinid– _Oconnel!_ That's what her name was! I could hear Oconnel take a seat on the bench beside me. Another poke, this time at my side, though I only knew because I could feel the slight push against the exposed metal that encompassed where my floating ribs had been as well as a small portion of my sides, "I thought tech-priests were supposed to be mostly machine…?"

"By the Throne Oconnel, will you stop poking the cog head?"

The felinid actually growled at the sergeant, but I waved it off, "S'alright, not bothered. And I'm pretty low rank, still don't have that much stuff yet."

A new voice spoke up, one with a surprisingly thick accept, one roughly comparable to Russian, "You are ov low rank?"

Tilting my head carefully, it almost felt like my brain was sloshing around in there as I did, I looked at the owner of the voice, now actually seeing that most of the squad were in the holding room with me. The only exception being the ogryn and the sharpshooter that had ran. Most had taken seats on the other benches, with only Oconnel sitting on the bench I was laid out on, and sergeant Umma was leaning against the wall next to the door.

"Yeah…? Why do you think I was polishing Ordnatus?" That wasn't an exaggeration really, my master had set me to the task of routine maintenance on the Knight, something considered too precious by the Adeptus Mechanicus to put servitors or menials to. Not that I could blame them, even without the religious nature of the thing, it was something that required at least moderately skilled labor to be done safely.

Now, I wasn't exactly privy to the tech involved, but I was a reasonably smart cookie, and my master knew that, it was why he'd volunteered me for the job in the first place.

He'd volunteered me for the fifth time in a row because I was a snarky little shit, but it was in good fun.

"You just seemed to know vat you were doing," the guardsman shrugged, a dark skinned man with a reedy voice, not much larger than my own small stature.

"That was luck," I admitted freely as Oconnel continued to curiously poke and prod at the junction of my flesh and the metal. The felinid's skin was a gray-ish color, and the light dusting of fur was a dark blue-gray, instead of human ears, she had the classic cat-girl ears, if in place of human ears rather than atop her head.

After just a moment though, I sighed, biting the bullet and asking, "So… okay, level with me. Why are you guys in here? It can't be to keep an eye on me, I'm about as threatening as a grumpy, wet kitten right now."

A wide range of emotions swept across the squad, discomfort, anger, fear, Occonel making a sour face even as Umma shrugged basically nonchalantly, "We fought chaos forces head on, they want to inspect us for corruption, and purity of faith."

"That's…"I had to pause to process that through the ache in my head, that and to find the right word to describe that bullshit, "Harsh."

"Isn't that what's happening to you?"

"I stole a religious relic that I had no right to pilot and then got into combat with those same chaos forces, coming under direct fire from a chaos sorcerer. Y'all just shot at them a bit. It's a slightly different scale." I started to shift onto my side to talk to them a bit more comfortably, but the movement sent pain rumbling through my skull and I rather hastily aborted the action with a little cringe. Regardless, I had to admit, "It feels more than a bit unfair to you guys really."

Umma gave me a funny, contemplating look at that, eyes narrowed briefly, but Oconnel just smiled, almost serenely, "We've committed no heresy, they'll see that easily. They just need to be sure."

I glance at her, before sharing a glance with Umma. Even if things went well, that was a bit optimistic.

"So we're stuck here until they decide to get on with this stupid investigation," Umma said, the large man's shoulders shrugging slightly.

"Welcome to Iacroaria," one of the guardsmen noted dryly, "Thanks for stopping the great enemy, here's your t-shirt and your cell."

"But wait," I couldn't help but interject in a dramatic voice, "If you act now we'll even throw in a special accusation of heresy and a side order of death for the low, low price of your dignity and name!"

There were more than a few snickers from the squad at that, and the young vox-specialist, Rook I think Umma had called him, just let his head fall into his hands, groaning, "Nooo… there's two of them now…"

"Hey, Oscar," Umma spoke up, "Did you manage to bring in your dice?"

"Yeah, lemme get them out, what are we playin' with? We don't have any ration bars or stuff."

With a little grunt, I shifted in place, "I can keep track of straight points if you want. You'll just have to explain the game to me and tell me when things change hands and such."

"How?"

Raising an eyebrow at the speaker in askance, I deliberately uncoiled my scribe-tine, it was a mass of six tentacle-style, small mechadendrites attached to where my elbow used to be. One of the dendrites ended in an uncoiling scroll, another in a reservoir-fed 'auto-quill', another in a small knife, and the remaining three in small manipulator claws, one with a basic connection port. I tended to keep the scroll where my forearm would be as a brace, then wrapped the rest of the dendrites around it in a strange parody of a forearm before twining the remaining five dendrites into a rough hand-like shape.

There were a few blinks, "… oh. Yeah, that'd work."

[center]-oOo-[/center]

"Wait," I held up my bandaged hand to pause the ongoing game, "You _all_ came from different planets?"

While one of my manipulator dendrites had stayed coiled up atop the pack of coolant I was using as an icepack, keeping it in place atop my head, the other five were working on keeping score of the ongoing dice game the squad was playing.

The squad shared a glance, most of them gathered in a rough circle in the center of the holding cell, sitting or hunched over the dice game they'd been playing. Belle still sat on the edge of the slab I lay on, and Felix sat off in the corner in penitence, but overall it'd turned into a dice-game to pass the time. More than a few grins appearing even as the dark-skinned Felix notes, "Yes, d'at is correct. Our regiment is quite the… how you say… hodgepodge?"

"Cogheads would probably call it a scrapheap."

"Bella came from Carlos McConnel like most felinids," Rook noted, the young vox specialist looking almost native american with his complexion and dark hair. He continued to tick off, "Lug is from some hive or another, no one's really sure since Lug can't remember and the guard usually doesn't keep track of individual ogryn that much. Felix is from some holy world–"

"Rasputin's Tomb." Felix interjected, his pseudo-russian accent noticeably thick, "It was site of great battle, the forces of the church taking many with them, it deserves its name."

"Yeah yeah," Umma waved it off, the small mountain of a man just rolling his eyes, "You keep telling us. We get it."

"It's not even all that special," Bella said, brushing her short hair back, "I mean, Novianna's from Prudence."

I actually half choked at that, and if my brains hadn't been sloshing about in my skull I'd have looked at the young woman rapidly, "Say _what?_ "

Prudence was the 'local' paradise world. If Iacroaria was the 'local' forgeworld of the sector, Prudence was the thing whispered about in hopeful terms, it was where governors and nobles and navigator houses went to retire. _Coming_ from there was a big deal, because even the slaves on that world would likely have lifestyles miles ahead of that of being a guardsman. It was a world whispered of with dreamlike relevance by the menials, serving on that world was treated with the same wistful impossibility of winning the lotto had been in my old home.

The aforementioned woman, who if I remembered correctly had been carrying a heavy las weapon, daintily waved off my befuddled look. She was barely my height, but she was built like a fucking tank, even with her uniform buttoned up crisply, her muscles had obviously strained within the fabric. The diamond piercing in her nose glittering in the holding-cell's candlelight as she said, "I didn't want to be just given an officers position because of my rank. I joined the guard to make a difference, not flout my families name."

"Still hasn't told us what it is. I've got a dozen Thrones on her having been a favored slave."

"I've got twenty on her being some daughter of the sector governor!" Bella, or Isabella Oconnel to be precise, beamed, getting an eyeroll from the topic of discussion.

Rook grinned even as Oscar snatched the dice out of his hand, "You want in?"

"Not really," I admitted sadly, still grinning in slight disbelief, my throbbing headache was still there, but this was worth the attention, "I don't have the money to wager on stuff like that, and I don't know her well enough to bet anyways."

"Thank you for not betting on my family life," Novianna said with a smile, a glitter of amusement in her green eyes, "I get quite enough of that from this bunch."

"Spoilsports," Oscar muttered, the tall, lanky man shaking his dice over the little circle most of the squad had made in the center of the room.

"Anyways, the sergeant comes from some primitive, backwater death world, he used to be a chieftan there before the guard picked him up."

"We seriously think that if they'd found him earlier, he'd have been made into a Space Marine."

Umma rolled his eyes even as I raised my eyebrows, 'cause that was a pretty impressive claim.

But Rook apparently had a good idea what I was thinking and continued, "No, seriously, my uncle says that if they'd found him and his world early enough for the geneseed, they'd have jumped all over him."

I blinked my eye a few times before looking at him curiously, "Your uncle?"

"Yeah! Well, great-uncle, he's a space marine." Rook beamed, his young face practically bursting with pride, "It's actually super cool."

"Can we get back to the skakking game?" Oscar grumbled.

"Right, right, roll already."

[center]-oOo-[/center]

"Do you have any idea why the great enemy was here?" Bella asked, fiddling with my spare manipulator dendrite as the others continued their game.

"Honestly no clue…" I said, chewing my lip and trying to ignore the ache in my head. The coolant pack was starting to warm up unfortunately, "Something like that, a rift big enough for a warhound to come through, that would've taken some serious set up, that's not something you can do on the fly without some enormous number of sacrifices, which we didn't see, or some powerful warp artifact which, again, we didn't see. Something powerful enough for that would've been obvious, we'd either be going crazy or mutated or something else weird… that's… actually not good."

Rook looked up from the game, "Why?"

"It means there was a chaos cult on the planet for a significant amount of time that only recently made a major move, or something like that." I frowned, trying to order my thoughts, knowing that sounded stupid, "Like, they had some _serious_ local and political power, enough to secretly set up the Redwood to be an entrance or rift or whatever without me taking _any_ sort of notice, and I was there basically every other day. And this ignores the whole part where the Redwood is a point of worship and pilgrimage and study for quite a few genetors."

"And none of the skakkers picked up on it," Umma noted, picking up on my scrambled brainwave.

"Or they were all heretics," Felix said sourly.

"That'd assume that even people like myself were heretics. Either that, or what they did was so subtle that we couldn't pick it out…" I trailed off, stifling my loose lips. I didn't think _that_ was likely either really given all the study it was put through, someone would've picked up on any mutations or unauthorized efforts with the Redwood… but it didn't make sense really, that warhound had spouted the classic Khornate litany, but there were sorcerers, and that was very much a Tzeenchian style plot coming to fruition… something wasn't adding up, at least not in a way I liked.

I didn't voice it though, because I'd realized I'd _already_ voiced more information than a lexmechanic should've known.

But Novianna's green eyes bore into me, "You think someone higher up ordered it."

A brief cringe flitted across my face, "Yeah… that's my suspicion."

There was a moment of dead silence from the squad at that before Umma said, "That's skakked up."

"I would happen to agree sergeant," everyone in the room jumped at the new voice, after hours of being in here by ourselves, the door had opened silently to the darkness of the forge in which stood a woman, "It is, as you put it, 'skakked up'."

Umma grunted, "And who are you?"

I made a motion with my hand at Bella, getting her attention and then help sitting up in spite of the ache in my head.

The woman strode into the room confidently, she had on a set of opened mechanicus robes, and beneath was a double-breasted red suit with gold buttons. She was _tall,_ able to look Umma in the eye comfortably, the sergeant and newcomer both tall, tan, blond haired and blue eyed, but whereas Umma had rugged features and a suspicious scowl, the woman somehow remained feminine, possessing an almost Mona-Lisa like not-smile on her face.

"Sergeant Umma, it's good to see you're doing quite well," she noted unhurriedly, "Losing someone of your caliber and results would be quite a loss to the Imperium."

I had a very distinct feeling, my eye searching her form for a moment before I found a glimmer of what I was looking for.

"Yeah, that's nice, but that doesn't explain who you are."

With Bella supporting me, I gave a little bow, closing my eye as I murmured, "Lady Inquisitor."

The silence that fell over the squad was deafening, and I could feel Bella go ramrod straight beside me, her skin going cold and clammy underneath my arm.

"… well skak."

* * *

A.N. - simply Eric, you might've seen this story on sites like Spacebattles under my name, but if it's somewhere else _not_ under my name, please tell me. I don't know if this is similar to another story or not, I haven't done the deep dives to check. If it is, I'd also like to know because it'd be neat to read those.


	4. LOADING

**\\\ LOADING**

* * *

"Thank you, Inquisitor," I said warily.

Again with the not-smile, the statuesque woman stood at the center of the room, completely at ease, "You did well despite your inexperience."

The room had an array of slabs around its edges around a central empty area for particularly large servitors, the squad had been playing the dice game in that empty area, but had scattered at her inexorable approach before scampering to the walls at my declaration of her title.

"I got quite _lucky_ ," I countered with a careful shake of my head, leaning into Bella's stiff right side for support, my left elbow on her shoulder as the mess of dendrites that formed my left forearm and hand held the coolant pack to my temple. "Both that Ordnatus accepted me in any capacity, but also that the operator…s?" I trailed off in thought before metaphorical shaking it off, "The _whatever_ it was that was the motive force behind the Warhound was stupid enough to get into melee with Ordnatus and I."

The Inquisitor strode forward; calling it walking wouldn't have done it justice. It was a struggle to meet her eyes, both due to my own predisposition to talk without meeting people's gazes and her own intense gaze, but also the far more mundane reason of _ow my head_. That and outright missing an eye.

Her hand came up, and Bella nearly flinched away when the Inquisitor almost tenderly touched her ear, "I must say, I'd heard of the felinids and their looks, but you look quite well, especially after coming into conflict with Chaos."

A little thrown off by the tangent, my head turned slightly to look at the action, finding the Inquisitor's fingers gently rubbing at the delicate feline ear, making the young woman tremble for just an instant before she started to relax. The Inquisitor's blonde hair was in a tight bun, and there was a cold, distant beauty to her. Even though Bella and I were sitting on one of the tall slabs, she loomed over the two of us, perching like a bird of prey.

Hell, she must have been nearly seven feet tall! Her lips didn't have the subtle sheen of lipstick, but they were still a deep, dark red– and it was _then_ that I picked up on the implied suspicion by her wording.

"Bit… weird to say given that she's the only one of the squad hit by enemy fire…" I had to note, gesturing with a dendrite at Bella's bandaged left shoulder.

Crystal blue eyes swung to my own gray-green one, pinning me in place, her fingers not stopping in their motions. I swallowed, but I kept my eye on hers even as she spoke, her voice and tone unwavering, "What of yourself? Internal bleeding, minor aneurysms in the brain, internal burns, hairline fractures in your right hand, damaged electoo inductors, damaged MIU, burst eardrums, ruptured eye… suffering may bring us closer to the Emperor, there is such a thing as excess."

I raised an eyebrow at her, "That's really only two… actually, three things."

Anything else I might have said, or the Inquisitor might have asked was cut off by another voice, "Okay, look, are you just here to make us uncomfortable or is there an actual purpose to this skak?"

The Inquisitor turned to look at the speaker without letting go of Bella's ear, the only person in the room that was tall enough to meet her gaze without looking up. An enigmatic smile crossing her face, "I must say sergeant, you did well in holding off the great enemy as you did."

Umma just frowned, "All we _did_ was hold the skakkers off until coghead here got that Knight working, after that we just held onto his coattails." He crossed his arms, "But that doesn't explain what the skak you're doing."

Blonde eyebrows rose as the Inquisitor's blue eyes bore into the large man, her voice betraying nothing as she asked, "Are you questioning the Inquisition, sergeant?"

"Yeah, I kinda am." The squad collectively choked on air, Oscar sputtering and the others just staring at their sergeant agape, heck, even I was a bit surprised. Only the Inquisitor herself didn't obviously react, Bella's dark tail thrashing about behind us as she was startled out of her reverie. But Umma wasn't done, "Look, I just don't want my little girls wrapped up in some heresy shit. I can sorta get questioning the coghead, but we just shot skakkers." His eyes darted over to me, "No offense scrapheap."

I gave him the best thumbs up I could with my bandaged hand, "None taken, look out for your own and shit."

"But you're messing with one of _my_ muties, that makes it my business." Umma crossed his arms over his chest, "And unless we're getting accused of heresy or some shit, I want us out."

Letting go of Bella's ear and turned fully to face Umma, I couldn't help but note that the tall woman kept me in range of her peripheral vision, "That's a bold demand sergeant. I'm not sure whether I should shoot you where you stand for that..." the lines of Umma's face deepened as he scowled even as his face turned pale, "Or if I should offer you a job."

Another choking sound came from the squad, and even Umma seemed thrown off by that one, but my mind, already racing, was focused on something else.

 _Why_ was she here?

She was in here completely unarmed as far as I could see… unless…

The coat had a golden trim with the cog-like notches that most high ranking magos did, both of her hands were flesh and blood, nails were clean, she had rings on her fingers, but only a few… _probably_ digital weapons actually. Still, ten people, nine of them fully trained Imperial Guardsmen… if she'd actually suspected we were traitors… the door was _closed_ even. No, this was too risky. She couldn't truly believe we were heretics… or that I was… no, she had those rings near Bella's head and even now it was pointed at me… there was nothing at her hip or back, so no serious weapons. Still, this was unnecessarily risky if she truly thought we were heretics… even if she had a fucking space marine out there, if we all ganged up on her or one of us was a sorcerer or able to unleash a demon… there's no way she'd survive.

"Well… I think I'd rather go back out to shooting at charging Orks if I can?"

That same cold, unreadable smile crossed her face, "Are you so eager to get out from under the Inquisition's gaze? Many would say that such a thing indicates a guilty mind."

"I don't care what they think. Investigate us all you want, we're not heretics," Umma countered with a scowl, "But I don't want my squad getting roped into some bullshit witch hunt, we've already got enough skakking problems dealing with the usual groxshit we're sent to fight."

"Your faith in your squad is admirable," the Inquisitor said, turning back to me, "Does your captain share your faith?."

The words obviously confused Umma for a moment, but just for a moment, and then the emotions flashed across his face quickly, shocked realization, brief terror, and then anger. His hands bunched around his folded arms, his teeth grinding together as he looked away, "That _bastard_."

What? She just- _their captain_. Shit, right, politics. Their captain, she was implying that he was going to use this as an excuse to get rid of them. Fuck. And it apparently was an effective threat from the Inquisitor based on Umma's reaction.

Her hand came up, taking the coolant pack from my dendrite, which… okay? I let it go, both because she was a fucking Inquisitor, but also because it wasn't all that cool anymore and wasn't helping with the ache in my head as much. I met her gaze and asked the million Throne question, "What do you want, Inquisitor?"

The sound of my voice seemed to draw Umma back to the here and now, the tall man stiffening and paling even as the Inquisitor's blonde eyebrows went up. Her facial expression barely shifting otherwise, "Another person questioning the Inquisition? Impertinence upon impertinence."

"You're just wasting everyone's time." Bella beside me stiffened as I stared up at the Inquisitor, "You wouldn't be here like this, alone with us, if you truly thought we were heretics. And if you don't think that we're heretics… I'm a _nobody,_ even knowing about my past is just something to investigate _after_ dealing with the cult on the planet before they go to ground or disappear… And you should have already figured out that I don't know anything that can help, you already heard everything I knew about it… and there's not a damn thing I'd be able to get at or know that you wouldn't be able to do easier, faster, or better, especially given your obvious links to the Adeptus Mechanicus," I gestured at her coat with my bandaged hand before scowling up at her. "So _why are you here_? Why are you here, wasting your time with us when there's a chaos cult here? You're here for _some_ reason, but I don't have the pieces to put it together, and all of this so far has just been a pointless power play. You're in charge, we get it, now what do you want? What the flying fuck does a squad of Guardsmen and a Lexmechanic have that's worth the time of the Emperor and his Inquisitor?"

There was a twinkle in the woman's crystal blue eyes, and she turned away, walking back towards the center of the room, bouncing the coolant pack in her hand as she did. Her words were almost like liquid honey, "What if I told you that I had an STC?"

I frowned, taking just an instant to process that, "I'd ask what the catch was."

She looked over her shoulder at me, but despite the Inquisitor's even tone, Bella stiffened beside me, "The 'catch?'"

Chewing my lip for just a moment in thought I nodded, "Yeah, there's no way you have a full on STC, not without some sort of catch. Even a corrupted one would be beyond invaluable to the Adeptus Mechanicus…" I scowled, "Even if I'd accept you not wanting to give it to the forge worlds, to not give it to at least Mars… I'd go so far as to say it was heresy, working actively against the Imperium's interests. And I don't think you're doing that… So, again… what's the catch?"

The not-smile widened and she turned back away, almost idly turning the coolant pack about in her hands, "What if I told you that there was an STC in the sector?"

My eye narrowed, _'What are you getting at…? It can't… where are you leading this…? An STC in the sector…?'_

"Nnnooo… that doesn't sound right either… if you were even half as connected to the Adeptus Mechanicus as you seem to be you'd be on the quest for… it… too…"

The Inquisitor's eyes slid back to me as I trailed off, the realization starting to hit me, "Mm?"

I looked back at her, " _You_ don't think there's one, but you think that others _do,_ and have been tempted to heresy while searching for it…"

"Tell me," the coolant pack dropped into one hand and stayed there as she turned back around, blue eyes boring into me as she asked, "Why, pray tell, did a Lexmechanic's emergency override work on an Archaeotech Knight?"

I couldn't help but note that she hadn't confirmed or denied anything we'd said… Still, I shrugged, "I legitimately don't know?" Her eyes hardened, but despite the little quiver of fear in my chest, I shrugged again, giving a little shake of my head, "Seriously. I half expected it to blow my head off for the attempt with such a low ranking code."

"Then why did you get into it?"

"Because it was our only chance?" I said incredulously, good god, I know this was probably the intention but she was seriously throwing me off with all the subject changes! "We were outnumbered massively by obviously traitor forces, stopping them in return for getting chewed out for it later was worth it, and it was the only chance I had of contributing to the fight."

Her voice dropped, low, and dangerous, "And what _else_ would be worth it?"

My mouth opened, then closed with a small click as I glared at her, cutting myself off. That was a fucking trick question at its core damnit, and she knew it. But not answering or trying to lie weren't really options. Taking a slow breath, I boiled it down as best I could, "… my life for others… my soul for the Imperium."

"And the Emperor?"

Bella trembled beside me at the Inquisitor's tone, but my world had narrowed to that pair of piercing eyes, my lips pressing into a thin line, _'That's… ugh, that's another one of those.'_ My eye flicked down as I tried to figure out how to answer, _'Speaking from the heart would be too easy to misinterpret–'_

I never even saw her cross the distance.

Pain flared and the world suddenly jerked and blurred, and the next I knew I was pressed back up against the wall, her knuckles up against the underside of my chin, the intricate details of her rings digging into my skin, as she said in a soft, almost nonchalant tone, "Contemplation is the womb of treachery."

She might as well have been talking about the damn weather, even as small points of heat made themselves known against my skin, my brain quite resoundingly confirming, _'Gun-rings, gun-rings, gun-rings, gun-rings–!'_

"H-Hey-!" Bella started only to cut herself off with a squeak.

My entire body tensed for a moment before I forced myself to relax, my eye closing as I sat there. _Think_. I couldn't do anything about this physically, and panicking would _not_ help, either she'd kill me or she wouldn't, all I could do was be honest. I forced the small tremble to stop, letting my chin rest on the rings, my chest heaving and my heart thudding against my ribcage. With my fear at least partially contained, I countered with something I'd thought about for a good while since arriving, "Fragile is an idea that has not been questioned."

Her knuckles twisted, her voice low and increasingly dangerous, "A questioning mind betrays a treacherous soul."

I couldn't help myself, I bristled with anger, "And _weak_ is the faith that cannot withstand doubt!"

The room was silent aside from the faint sounds of the burning candles and the popping of wax, before the heavy emptiness was broken by a menacing question, "And do you have that faith?"

Eyes closed tightly, my hand started to ache, clenched as tightly as it was as I almost growled out, " _Yes_."

The rings twisted further, pressing me harder into the heavy adamantium wall of the holding cell, a small trickle of blood actually dripping onto her knuckles as the intricate details tore into my skin. But… there was nothing else to say.

I had faith in the God Emperor, maybe not the kind of faith the ecclesiarchy wanted, maybe not 'true' faith, maybe I was a heretic by their measure… but… I had faith. And despite the thudding of my heart against the inside of my cyber-mantle, I forced my trembling right hand to open and relax.

And then the pressure keeping my head pressed back was gone and I almost fell from the sudden lack of support–! I promptly overcompensated, head whipping back up and knocking the back of my skull into the wall, "Ack-! Ow. Ow." I cringed, my bandaged hand flying to my shaved head, "… ow."

"Tell me, Lexmechanic." The menace was gone from her tone, "How would _you_ go about finding these heretics?"

Slumping down against the slab, I rubbed my head carefully with my hand and rested my elbows against my knees, trying to order my thoughts, "Ugh… fuck… _well_ … I'd try and find out who's in charge of the Redwood. They're the absolute minimum amount involved in this." Gesturing uselessly with my dendrites when there was no further questioning, I continued, "I'd want to find out the structure of the groups involved in it as well as the past sanctioned efforts and experiments on the Redwood, who carried them out, who pushed them forward, and who approved them, most of that would be in the databases… which would mean you could probably get at it without tipping them off that you were doing so, at least with a better set of codes than I have or just a better techpriest… if you have a better idea of what things could make the rift possible then you could trace it from there."

There was a long moment of silence as I rubbed my forehead, trying to ignore the insistent throbbing that had returned between the stress and the lack of a coolant pack. I opened my eye to find a palm before it-?!

Strong fingers pressed to my temples and eyebrows, digging in and rubbing small circles, the motion somewhere between painful and relieving, and with a little grunt my eye closed once more against my will.

"Could you pilot again?" the Inquisitors smoky voice was soft; the question surprisingly gentle.

I shrugged uselessly, "… _maybe?_ _If_ my MIU isn't totally fried, _if_ they'll let me back into the Knight, _if_ Ordnatus accepts me again without there already being a fight…?" I sighed, fucking _tired_ , I'd been thinking hard, panicked… it'd been a rough day, "I dunno, probably?"

"[i]Good.[/i]"

Her hand patted my shaved head before she pulled away, and I cracked my eye open to glare at her slightly, "Can you at least give me some idea what the rust is going on? If you want me to shoot things with Ordnatus, it'd probably be better if I had an idea what I was shooting before going in."

Schrodinger's smile was back on the Inquisitor's face as she stood fully, "We will see."

My lips pressed into a thin line as I slumped against the wall, "You are _infuriatingly_ vague, you know that right?"

The Inquisitor blinked a few times before a smile spread across her face, a genuine one this time, "I do my best." She stood and turned, crimson coat flaring out as she strode towards the door, "Sergeant, come along, the Inquisition has need of the services of you and your squad."

"Aw skak."

"I do find that that is the most appropriate response, yes." The door opened soundlessly at her approach, revealing the even darker hallway of the forge at night, "Come, we have work to do." She paused just outside of the door, looking to the right, "Titus, keep watch over our cute little Lexmechanic, I'll vox you the coordinates when it's time."

"Of course, Lady Veyla."

There was a loud thump and… oh… oh my, that was a Space Marine.

The man… the _Astartes_ actually barely had to duck to fit into the room, the door was built large enough for heavy duty servitors to be forced through after all. His armor was solid black… and the pauldrons actually don't look _that_ stupid up close. But those red lenses focused on me, and more than a few of the Guardsmen swallowed hard. Rook, despite his previous nervousness, actually scowled at the Astartes, who stood a head taller than even the staggeringly large Inquisitor and Umma.

… they're quite a bit bigger in person…

"Sergeant," the Inquisitor's voice came back through the room, "Don't hold up the Inquisition."

The sergeant sighed before growling out, "Yes… _my lady._ " His own blue eyes swept over his squad, "C'mon girls, we've got a new mission."

Despite their hesitation, the squad began to stand and start to file out of the holding cell, skirting past the Astartes. There were a wide variety of emotions, Felix seemed almost in awe, Rook seemed nearly angry, Novianna stone-faced, Umma scowling… but the majority emotion was nervousness.

"Hey," I called out, thankfully getting them to pause for just a moment. I gave them my best smile, "Good luck. Emperor protects and all that. I doubt you need it, but just to be safe."

"Aren't you supposed to say something about the Omnissiah?" Felix asked.

I snorted, "Skak that, the Omnissiah isn't supposed to intervene, the Emperor is. I expect him to protect you better. Emperor be with you."

There were a few smiles from them at that, and it wasn't much, but… I felt a lot better about seeing them off.

Soundlessly, the door closed behind them as the squad left, leaving me alone in the room with the massive space marine, who held an equally large plasma rifle in his hands. His helmet prevented me from seeing his face but… nothing on his right shoulder, just a black expanse, and on his left… an intricately carved silver skull and crossbones over the Inquisition's rosette, all on a silver pauldron and vambrace.

Big power ax, bolt pistol, grenades… eeeeeeyup. Space marine.

"So… hi?"

The Astartes head tilted down slightly to focus on me, but said nothing.

I just raised my eyebrwos, "Any chance you'll give me an idea what I'm going to be asked to do?"

"No." Okay, even through the helmet's speakers, he had a nice voice, a calm bass rumble, "The Inquisitor doesn't want to risk the heretics catching wind of her justice."

I scowled for just a moment, but kept my tongue, thinking. _'So, we're bugged… but why'd she… ask…?'_ My bandaged hand came up as I facepalmed, "... ow. Gonna be happy when that's healed up…"

With a sigh, I eased myself back onto the slab, the snakelike tendrils slipped out and pulled my folded up shirt back over and set it under my head before laying back onto it, "Ugh, right, I'm going to try to rest up."

Rubbing my forehead, I let my dendrites coil up upon my chest, the smooth metal warm, _'She already has a lead, one actually unrelated to what I figured out. What I realized might be a red herring or something, she's using that to throw off the real people as to where she's going.'_

There was a few soft thuds as the Astartes moved about the room some.

 _'Okay, so…'_ I mentally began ticking off what I knew as I lay there on the slab, _'She asked if I could pilot, so that means she probably expects me to shoot things… or wanted to use that as a threat to whoever is listening…?'_ I made a face, _'Ugh, fucking spy-thriller shit. You know that I know that you know bullshit and I don't have a fraction of the puzzle pieces.'_

A few small, mechanical whirs and the sound of something unscrewing came from the Astartes. I had a brief instant of fear before I shoved that silliness aside. For one, she had ordered him to protect me, for another, if he _wanted_ to kill me, there was all of fuck all I could do about it. And it'd at least probably be pretty quick. Besides, he was probably checking up on his weapons while on guard duty. So I relaxed, rubbing my temples carefully with my aching hand.

 _'Okay, so, I get tapped for the boom. Odds are that it's going to be hereteks… genetor hereteks probably…? Well, we do have a surprising number of genetors here… so… bio-skitarri? Or possibly genetically engineered monsters…'_ I cringed again at a new thought, _'Or possibly demonically possessed genetically enhanced monsters. Fuck.'_

There was a few thumps as the Astartes approached and-... something wet and cool laid across my forehead…?

Cracking open my eye, I looked up in the darkness to find a small towel folded up and draped across my forehead and the Astartes moving back to the center of the room, his back to me.

My mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before the hint of a smile spread across my face, "Thanks."

"The Emperor protects, Lexmechanic."

A warm, pleasant feeling filled my chest despite the continued ache in my head, "Not sure I'd call this 'protection', but I definitely appreciate it. So still, thank you."

The Astartes was silent and unmoving, the large, blocky backpack of his power armor facing me as the candlelight played across the black paint on his armor, glittering off of the silver left arm. Quietly, he rumbled, "Rest up, Lexmechanic, you shall have the Emperor's work to do."

With a resigned smile, I let my eye close again, settling back onto the slab. He had a point, after all.

* * *

A.N. - N/A


	5. GARBAGE COLLECTION

**\\\ GARBAGE COLLECTION**

* * *

"Wake, Lexmechanic."

The slight but firm touch at my shoulder made my eyes open instantly–

 _'Ow!'_

With a little hiss of discomfort I cringed, right eye snapping back shut, "Ah… _cuss_ words."

My eye cracked open slowly to the unfamiliar ceiling…

… fuck, I'm Shinji Ikari.

My face scrunching up, I grunted as I pushed myself up into a sitting position, "Ow." My hand– _bandaged_ hand coming up to cover my right… eye socket as I looked up at a really big black blob?

Brain finally rebooting both metaphorically and literally, I looked up at the Astartes and croaked out, "Time to move out?"

"No."

I blinked in confusion, "Then…?"

"There is a problem, I will need to head out to handle it."

"Ah…" I blinked furiously for a moment as that processed, "Can I at least have a knife or something in case they get in? Like, teleport or some shit?"

There was some shuffling from the vaguely darker patch of dark in the room, and my eye finally focused on the red lenses of the Astartes' helmet as my brain started to pick out on sounds beyond the holding cell. After a moment, there was the briefest glint of light on… that is a big knife.

It wasn't all that heavy, but it was half shoved to my chest, and I haphazardly grabbed it with my left hand, the tentacle like dendrites coiling about it, "Thanks."

The red eyes nodded once before turning and disappearing into the gloom of the holding cell. I took a few moments to readjust my grip and actually hold onto the short sword of a knife and get at least a little ready for something to happen.

The door opened soundlessly, the only reason I even knew was because there was suddenly dim light in the holding cell, outlining the form of the massive Astart– "Oh skak." –es briefly…?

Three thudding steps later and the black-armored warrior had exited my little cell and the door closed behind him.

"Um–" I started, holding onto the combat knife tightly–

 ***PshTHOOM–crckrck***

I nearly jumped at the sudden sound of gunfire, actually putting a scratch into one of my dendrites, the metal screeching as it met the likely monomolecularedge of the Astartes combat knife.

I took a slow breath to calm myself down as the gunfire rang outside of the holding cell, taking a tight hold of the handle of the knife.

Several tense moments passed as I did my best to stay alert, watching the gloom for anything like teleportation or the door opening as gunfire of various forms came from the other side of the door. I had a more than brief moment of hoping it wasn't anyone I knew getting shot, but I did my best to push that away.

Seriously, chaos, not even once. I might feel bad if someone I considered a friend or aquaitence was one of them, but I wasn't crazy. I knew that when it came to corruption and chaos in this universe, there wasn't really 'going back'. It may be possible, but it wasn't at all within my capabilities to even consider remotely safely. Death was a far greater mercy.

I had a brief moment of relief, realizing that while my head wasn't exactly rosey, it definitely wasn't a throbbing mess of pain anymore.

Several minutes later, the sounds of gunfire died off and dim light flooded the holding cell again, outlining the Astartes dark form.

"Done?"

"Yes. Come, the Inquisitor has need of us."

"Well…" I eloquently grunted, shuffling to the edge of the slab before dropping to my feet. I wobbled in place for just a moment before straightening, "Fuck."

A quick nod was all I got before he turned around and I began to move after the Astartes, a dendrite grabbing my robes and pulling them after me as I passed through the-…

Oh wow.

That's… a lot of blood.

"Stand strong, Lexmechanic."

"Yeah… yeah. Different from what I'm used to seeing is all."

"Lexmechanic, can you use a Needle Rifle?"

I blinked, once, twice, then scowled as my brain caught up, metaphorically rebooting after seeing the… ah… remains. "Yes, I'd prefer a las weapon though…" forcing my way past my discomfort and nausea at the cooked, crushed, cavitated, or otherwise melted remains of the techpriests and servitors, I stepped forward, eye looking over them quickly, "What else did they have?"

Gesturing with his gun, he responded, "A few las-weapons, no hotshot versions though. The servitors had a variety of weapons-"

"But those are integrated, so useless since we're in a rush." I noted, tossing the knife to the Astartes, who caught it easily with a hand.

Unbothered, the Astartes continued, sheathing the knife in a single smooth motion even as he gestured at the dozen or so corpses, two of which were in the same form of rust-red robes that I wore, "There was also a melta, inferno pistol, hand flamer and an arc pistol."

I brightened just a bit, " _Those_ I can use!"

Following the gestured barrel of the Astartes I hurried over and after a moment's hesitation, pulled the mostly pistol weapons out of the hands or bionics of the two techpriests. It took a quick check for the STC safeties to ensure that I flipped them on for each weapon, stuffing the pistols into the numerous pockets in my pants, as well as the few clips of ammo for them that were in obvious places, as I did so, I asked, "Which of the rifles do you think would be more useful? I don't know the situation and I'm honestly equally bad with all of them."

"The further you are away from the lines of fire, the better. The Omnissiah may guard you, but ceramite would be better. It is why I recommend the Needle Rifle."

"That'd be useless against most servitors or techpriests worth their salt. Arc rifle it is."

Grabbing the blocky, steampunk-esque weapon, I slung it over my shoulder and swiped the bulky cylinder of its rotary battery. Didn't know exactly how it worked, yet, but I knew how to gun.

I shoved the backup drum into another pocket. They'd taken all of my limited equipment when they'd taken me in, so the cargo pants were empty, goody. I didn't see a combi-tool on my quick grab of stuff, but whatever.

It took me just a minute or two to grab everything, most of that spent moving between the corpses. I was still admittedly pretty unsettled by the violence this close, there were more than a few moments where my hand hesitated reaching towards them, red robes scorched and burned and body parts blasted apart and burned. But those hesitations were small, I found the fact that I _was_ so desensitized to such things a good bit unsettling in of itself.

Servitors and mechanical accidents could be pretty horrifying, OSHA was _not_ a thing here.

"Are you ready, Lexmechanic?"

Planting the butt of the arc rifle against my left shoulder properly, I gave a curt nod, "Lead the way, sorry in advance if I slow you down." I blinked once, twice before shaking my head a bit, " _If_ I slow you down… god that's stupid. I'm apologizing for the further slowing down I'm about to cause."

The Astartes was already moving past me at a brisk walk, giving a small nod, "Have faith, Lexmechanic, the Emperor protects."

"I'd appreciate it if the Emperor also provided asprin or recaff," I noted, still slightly groggy even as I walked quickly after the space marine, "But I'll make do."

Unsurprisingly, he didn't deign that one with a response as we moved out into the Forge Temple, and I did my level best to put the thoughts of the corpses behind us… well… _behind_ us. The Space Marine sped up bit by bit until I had to half-jog to keep up with what was a brisk walk for the Astartes. Which wasn't surprising considering that he had literally two feet on my short, 5'6" ass.

We moved quickly down the sparse hallways, it was pretty dark really, this section was meant for servitor storage and maintenance, and most techpriests didn't really need a whole lot of light, "Do we know where my servo-skulls are?" My combi-tools would be with them, and having my auger skull would be _super_ nice to have if we were getting into craziness.

"No."

"Damn." Well there went that idea.

It was dark out now, night had fallen on Iacroaria, our red sun having set quite some time ago and the few lights in the hallway didn't do a lot to illuminate it. The heavy footfalls of the Astartes led the way through the almost mazelike corridors of the Forge Temple.

Mind you, I knew where I was going and where we were, I've _lived_ here, and it's not like this department was restricted or anything. Hell, I picked up quite a few servitors for my master here myself. That didn't mean I had the slightest fucking clue where we were going though.

"Where are we-… " I trailed off as the Astartes head jerked to the side, looking off even as he moved quickly. "Um…?"

"We must make haste," he said simply before beginning to jog.

A little startled, I started to outright run after him, hurrying to point out, "I can't keep this up long! Any chance we could grab a vehicle?"

Rounding a corner with a grace that I honestly envied and fumbled to emulate, the Astartes shook his head, "The enemy isn't far, Lexmechanic."

I panted as the Astartes and I came to a rapid stop at one of the major cargo lifts of the Forge Temple, "Yay."

A silver gauntlet reached out to hit the button to call the lift, "The Emperor protects, Lexmechanic."

"Yeah…"

[center]-oOo-[/center]

Iacroaria's sky was naturally a dark brown, the stars obscured by the thick atmosphere and the lack of a major satellite meaning the sky was dark with the small sun on the other side of the planet.

But even though the Forge World didn't really have much in the way of street lighting, waterfalls of glowing multicolored waste poured from the pipes of the tall manufactorums and forges, lighting the large gantries and bridges between the forges with a scintillating multicolored glow.

It made it easy to follow after the massive form of the black-armored Astartes as he moved quickly down the large bridges over the lake of biosludge and factory waste that Manufactorum Lumenlacus was built atop of.

His heavy boots thudded against the asphalt of the raised bridge between the buildings, a light jog for the Astartes that was just short of a full sprint for me. It was awkward to rush around with a rifle, how do soldiers do this shit?

The disconcerting part was that even I could hear the sounds of gunfire over the never ending hammers of the forges and the bubbling currents of Lumen Lake.

Of _course_ we were running straight towards it. Obviously. What else would we be doing?

My chest heaved slightly, sweat soaking into my robes as we moved quickly down the dark street, running _towards_ the sound of gunfire. Damnit, I hadn't kept up with my cardio as much as I should've, and I was definitely feeling it now.

I could only pilot, sure, I had a gun now and I'd shoot at Chaos cultists, but I wasn't a trained shooter, so why…?

The bridge _shook_ beneath my feet, nearly making me fall over as I rushed after the Astartes. Flashes of light lit up the gothic buildings of the manufactorums, but their sources hidden by the large structure at the end of the bridge we were on now.

Servitors and some of the menials on the bridge were shoved out of the way, too slow to move out of the Astartes path as he charged through the large doors of the manufactorum.

My scrawny ass followed in the wake he left behind, entering the large manufactorum. Massive power hammers, conveyor belts, and casting molds holding poured molten metals moved on gantries in the large room. It was dangerously unsafe working conditions, but we were relatively safe running along the central corridor. It was deliberately free of any equipment or dangers so that shipments of materials could be moved easily between the various buildings that stood in Manufactorum Lumenlacus.

Okay, so, if I remembered correctly, this massive structure was just outside of one of the starports, which had several factories and warehouses around it. If I was right, then the gunfire was coming from it or near it and that's where we were headed.

We made a sharp turn around one of the corners within the manufactorum, dodging a stopped vehicle as we rushed towards the distant gate, barely visible amongst the machinery between us and it.

My heart thundered against the inside of my chest, each thud slamming against the inside of my cyber-mantle. Some of the menials were running from the big doorway, but others and the servitors were simply too slow as the Astartes and I charged through.

There! Dashing around one of the massive, half finished farming machines the doorway came into view and… and a _lot_ of battle servitors and cybeasts.

 _Shit_.

Thankfully, they weren't looking our way, but the various bio-warriors and beasts, further enhanced by cybernetics and integrated weaponry were all firing off to the side at one of the buildings. At the moment, I couldn't remember what was out that way, and well before I had any chance to remember it, the Astartes and I were approaching the threshold of the gate and the bridge between the manufactorum and starport.

And it was _then_ that the Astartes really took off in a full sprint, "For the Emperor!"

Okay, so, here's the thing. The Adeptus Mechanicus is extremely protective of the knowledge they hold. They consider knowledge itself holy and that the measure of a man is entirely in the knowledge they contain. They do everything that they can to ensure that knowledge is concentrated in those 'able to appreciate its holiness' or however else they try to make their monopoly palatable. But there's some things that are so fundamental, so basic, that they don't really care if the average menial or scrub knows them so long as the exact details are kept obscure.

In this case, it refers to a pretty simple equation: Big Thing + Gotta Go Fast = Much Ouchies.

As those poor, heavily but insufficently defended and armored servitors and beasts discovered when over half a ton of metal and ceramics and circuitry slammed into them at highway speeds.

Blood and oil splattered everywhere as a half dozen of the near mindless things were scattered by the impact alone, the Astartes' power ax coming out in a smooth motion, a blue haze and electric-like current jumping from its head as it was swung about, separating limbs and heads and torsos from the horde of slaves in a dervish of destruction, cleaving his way into the horde and towards the center of the wide starport. Beasts nearly twice the size of the Astartes, vaguely reminiscent of tigers or wolves, cybernetically and genetically enhanced, standing alongside combat servitors nearly the size of the Astartes, with heavy bolters or lascannons instead of arms, all of them were scattered, both as individuals and as individual body parts by the black-armored angel of death before they could even reorient on the sudden new target.

And here I was trailing behind him, sweating all over and still trying to figure out wtf was going on.

The shock of my boots hitting the asphalt of the bridge jolted up to my knees as sweat poured down my forehead, there just wasn't any more gas in the tank to keep rushing after an _Astartes_ , but I did my best to catch up with the situation as I approached the door.

Okay, dozens of servitors and beasts, about a dozen red robes scattered about, all firing at…

… _shit_.

The starport was a large central circle at the center of a cog-wheel of spokes that reached out to other manufactorums or storage houses, a central location to simplify logistics. At the edge of one of those bridges was this horde of servitors and beasts and the techpriests, all firing on one of the warehouses, bolts of lasfire and plasma flew out from the warehouse back into the horde.

Oh, and let's not forget the teensy little detail of _fucking Ordnatus in the starport!_

I nearly stumbled as my brain registered the Knight's presence, lit by the glowing lake as it fired into the warehouse. I hadn't been able to see it from inside the manufactorum due to the poor lighting and missing an eye but fucking hell! What did she expect me to do?! Steal the fucking thing while it was in use?!

And then the massive Knight began to turn.

 _'Fucking fucker fuck of **fuck**! Of course!' _I skidded to a halt, rifle coming up to my left shoulder, leveling it with the horde and pulling the trigger quickly, bolts of lightning shot from the end of the gun, its blue ports flashing brightly with each sizzle-crckthoom of the shots. The blindingly bright bolts of went first low, into the ground of the starport, and then high, over the heads of the servitors, overcompensating for the miss and the near lack of recoil of the weapon.

By the time I was getting ready for another shot, Ordnatus had turned towards the manufactorum we'd come from. It stood at the starport's side of the bridge to the warehouse and was now turned towards us. The Astartes had carved a swath into the servitors and had smashed the first of the techpriests, but the lightning cannon had leveled.

The weapon whined and my eye closed tightly turning y head away desperately as–

 ***crckTHOOM!***

Blinding even through my closed eye, the bridge trembled beneath my feet as Ordnatus' lightning cannon fired.

My ears rang, but I wasn't knocked off my feet or otherwise dead, so _that_ was good at least.

Bringing the arc rifle up even as I squinted my eye open, I felt fear in my heart– the Astartes, where was the Astartes-?!

There! Rolling up to his feet, smoking and his right pauldron gone, plasma rifle coming up and firing at the Knight. The servitors and cybeasts turning about to start aiming at the Astartes-

I did _not_ have enough guns for this! The hell was I supposed to do?! Steal Ordnatus-?!

My finger pulled the trigger of the arc rifle, sending bolts of lightning down into the masses of the servitors, a bolt of lightning hitting one of the combat servitors dead on, making it spasm and fall over, sparking and smoking.

But it was only one servitor out of literally dozens, the other bolts going wide as I fired rapidly into the horde.

The Astartes was a whirlwind of death, diving and lunging, grabbing a closing cybeast and tossing it in the way of the bolter rounds and plasma bolts raining on his position as he ran off to the left side around the horde, firing rapidly into it with his plasma rifle.

What could I do-?! I didn't have heavy ordinance, I didn't have melee weapons, I didn't have armor or force fields or anything!

…

Fuck it.

Heart thundering against the inside of my chest, my breath trembling as my skin went cold, I ran.

My right hand pulled away from the barrel of the arc rifle and fumbled at my pocket for just a moment before I pulled out the hand flamer and rushed down the bridge, pressing the stock of the arc rifle to my shoulder as I rushed straight towards the heretek hordes.

This was such a fucking stupid idea!

Arms pumping, I ran as hard as I could down the bridge, robes flapping as my world narrowed to a panicked focus.

I had to get to Ordnatus.

I didn't have the guns to meaningfully affect this fight. The pain in my knees, the ache in my chest as my heart hammered against the metal of my cyber-mantle inside my ribcage, the throbbing of my head in time with my heart, the burn at the base of my skull from the damage to my MIU… it all faded into the background as adrenaline and terror surged.

I had to get to Ordnatus.

Ears ringing, unable to hear anything over the thundering of the guns and the crack of the lasfire, the heat of plasma and pinpricks of pain as tiny bits of bolter shrapnel skittered across my skin, none of it mattered. I didn't have anything to give to this fight, to this defense of my home, nothing except for the fact that Ordnatus had recognized me as a pilot. All I could do was try and make the Knight open up and kill the current pilot and steal it back, it was my only hope, the only thing I had any chance of even trying to do.

But all that was based on me getting to Ordnatus.

Coming off of the bridge and only a few feet away from the lines of the combat servitors as they split between tracking the Astartes and firing into the warehouse, I was completely insignificant. The smell of blood and oil, of copper and grease and cooked meat, it filled my nose as I prayed to the Emperor that I could do this.

This was my only hope.

The heavy, pistol-sized weapon came up and I pulled its trigger uselessly once before frantically thumbing its safety back off and firing it wildly as I ran into the loose mob of combat servitors and cybeasts.

 _Fire_ reached out, a hose of heat and horrifying death sprayed out from the weapon, promethium fanning out in an arc and splattering over a dozen mindless weapons and even a techpriest, many catching fire, but I couldn't afford to pay attention. I fired blindly behind me with the hand flamer, getting mechanical, synthesized screams of pain.

"Ordnatus!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, boots skidding across the ground as I desperately dove around the combat servitors, the mindless machines slowly turning, reacting to me too slowly as I moved through their ranks, "They're hereteks! Hereteks!"

The Knight's head swung to me, spouting binary before it started to turn its torso in my direction, plasma fusils still firing in the Astartes direction even as it raised its right arm, the chainsword revving up.

 **"** **0011111000111110001000000100100101000100010001010100111001010100010010010100011001011001010010010100111001000111001011100010111000101110000011010000101000111110001111100010000001000001010011100100010001001111010100100100100101001111010011000010000001010000010010000100100100100000001100100011001100110001001110010000110100001010001111100011111000100000010101100100010101010010010010010100011001011001010010010100111001000111001011100010111000101110** **."**

I didn't have time to parse what the binary was, I didn't have time to aim as the flamer ran out of fuel, the gun was tossed aside as I brought the arc rifle down and fired blindly as I dove between what few gaps I could see between the massive conglomerations of man and machine and guns, "They're hereteks! Hereteks!"

With a footstep like an earthquake, the Knight turned, its chainsword roaring like a demon from hell as it was swung about. My eye was wide as I watched it come, but I wouldn't stop, I _couldn't_ stop, I had to get to Ordnatus!

 **"** **0011111000111110001000000101000001001001010011000100111101010100001000000101000101010101010001010101001001011001001110100010000001000110010000010100100101010100010010000010000000111011001000000100100001001111010011100100111101010010001000000011101100100000010100000101010101010010010100000100111101010011010001010000110100001010** **."**

The chainsword swung, teeth a whirling blur as the gold and rust red Knight took a step to meet me, panic surged in my chest–

Pain exploded in my chest-!

I saw white as I fell to the ground, and all I could hear was the deafening roar of the weapon swinging above my head and the ringing in my ears.

Hacking and coughing, I desperately tried to orient myself, each jerk sending spasms of pain through my body, my arc rifle clattering uselessly to the ground somewhere off to the side as I clutched my chest. Sobbing and crying, snot leaking from my nose, my hand came away wet from the gaping hole in my chest.

On my hands and knees, I coughed up a small fountain of blood onto the blurry ground beneath me, I could hear Ordnatus continue to spout the binary language, something I'd learned but wasn't fluent enough in to parse in my panic and agony. I glared up at the crimson and gold Knight's optics, trembling and shaking as I struggled to get a foot beneath me; my breath bubbled and popped as flashes of my friends, my master, of Luriline… of everyone I cared about here insisted on making themselves known in my head, "No… 'fuse…"

My vision swimming, my chest heaving, I shook my head, glaring up at Ordnatus as it raised its chainsword high, "I refuse. I _refuse_. _Heretek_."

 **"** **001111100011111000100000010001000100010101010100010001010101001001001101010010010100111001000001010101000100100101001111010011100010000001010010010001010100000101000011010010000100010101000100000011010000101000111110001111100010000001000011010000010101001101010100001000000100100101001110001000000101010001001000010001010010000001001110010000010100110101000101001000000100111101000110001000000100011101001111010001000011101000100000010110010100010100100000010001110101010101001001010011000101010001011001** **."**

My teeth grit as I tried to watch it descend, hands and knees trembling as I tried to dive aside at the last instant, to roll aside, anything, _anything_ I could do- but in spite of myself, I flinched. Eye closing as I looked away from the falling flurry of teeth.

And the roar was gone.

There was a moment where all I could hear was the ringing in my ears and the thundering of my heart.

My eye opened again and my chest went cold, only a foot above my head was the massive chain of Ordnatus' chainsword, frozen in place.

 **"** **0011111000111110001000000100000101000011010100010101010101001001010100100100100101001110010001110010000001010011010000010100111001000011010101000100100101000110010010010100010101000100001000000101000001001001010011000100111101010100** **."**

"What-?" I stumbled onto my feet, staggering and clutching the hole in my chest–

The chainsword was suddenly swept away from above me and Ordnatus stepped forward, its torso opening up like a maw, silver and red fluid dripping inside it even as its left claw dove towards me-?!

Staggering backwards, I nearly fell over before the massive power-claw envelop me, a wordless little panicked and pained escaping me as I was picked up and stuffed into that maw.

My world turned into a dizzying mess for just a moment before I was slammed into place, my vision blurring into uselessness at the sudden pain, a wet squish accompanying the mechanical sounds around me. Silver and red dripped down onto me in streams as my eye slowly opened once again and I could see the screens of Ordnatus' cockpit lighting up around me.

Text scrolled across the red-painted screens–

\\\ CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD: YE NOT GUILTY  
\\\ TRANSFERING CONTROL TO PILOT

I gaped for a long moment before a grin spread across my face, "… oh _fuck_ yes."

Broken hand scrambling around, it was almost like the MIU plug jumped to my palm, it was wet like the seat, but I didn't pay that any attention as I shoved the jack into the base of my skull. My teeth grit together at the fire that lanced through my head, the flexible limbs that formed my left hand uncoiling, the interface jack seeking one of the ports inside Ordnatus' cockpit even as the feed began to pour into my head like hot water on sore muscles.

My right eye was gone, there was a sizable bullet hole in my chest, and my body trembled and shook as the gray and red liquids dripped in the cockpit.

And then I was no longer a man, wounded and augmented and likely dying, I was a portion of a god-machine, a king of the battlefield, a lord of war.

The world jumped into existence in my head, targeting reticles slapping on the heretek forces as my blurry and ruined vision was replaced with that of Ordnatus' own, filled with static and white noise from my damaged interface.

Confused looks, guns reorienting, confused queries coming over the vox.

\\\ ALL HERETICS  
\\\ RENDERING JUDGEMENT

 **No.**

The chainsword revved back up as I began to move forward, left arm coming up as I fired the heavy bolter into the hereteks, plasma fusils firing freely as my gaze swept across the mob of servitors and cybeasts.

\\\ DAMAGE SUSTAINED ; ENGAGING HEART OF OMNISIAH

Panic, fear, cries for retreat. Bolter rounds, plasma bolts, lasfire and more began raining onto Ordnatus from the horde of hereteks, some too close and able to fire underneath the ion shield, which is why I had the chainsword and stomping boots!

Roaring like a demon, the chainsword swept at Ordnatus feet, sending blood and oil and bits of flesh and machine scattering everywhere as it tore half a dozen of the mindless beasts to shreds.

Lasfire and plasma bolts came from either side of Ordnatus into the horde before the black clad Astartes charged into the group from Ordnatus' right, the firepower from the warehouse on our left pouring on.

The heretek priests scattered, taking some of the servitors with them as they tried to run, others staying behind to keep the pressure on us. Grenades were thrown and smoke began to fill the starport, pain in my chest and I fired into the horde as quickly as I could, "No!"

Red robed bastards scattered and ran, hiding in the smoke as they tried to flee, one, two, three of them fell to plasma and bolter fire in rapid succession. The lightning cannon kicked and smoke was blasted away from the sudden explosion of white, taking out another dozen of the mindless cyborgs as I chased them down!

A combat servitor was crushed beneath Ordnatus heavy boot as I fired after the fools-White?!

Vision was suddenly gone-?! "The hell-?!"

\\\ CAMERAS SUFFERED ELECTRICAL OVERLOAD ; REBOOTING

My cursing was cut off by a hacking cough, I didn't dare fire blindly, the Astartes was somewhere around my feet-! Pain was still flaring across my body, both the real one and the simulated one of Ordnatus, I didn't dare crack open the cockpit to eyeball it. My broken hand clutched uselessly at the wet hole in my side as I grit my teeth, waiting for the cameras to reboot, listening to the mechanical screams and the roar of guns and the Astartes battle cry.

The sounds drew out far too long as I waited for an unacceptable amount of time, my body shaking as one by one, the feeds flickered back to life, revealing a scattered force of combat servitors being torn apart by the Astartes– where were the techpriests?!

Ordnatus' head swung around, bolts of plasma streaking out to blast apart any combat servitors far enough away from the Astartes to target safely.

But no red robes, no nests of mechadendrites, no true hereteks, just mindless cyborgs and beasts.

"Damnit!" I hacked and coughed, wetness splattering onto my lap as my vision swam, the feed from Ordnatus filled with static and white noise, my focus failing as the pain in my body drew me back to it.

My robes… the entire right side was a mess, a darker red than normal as my blood stained it, a big hole in my chest…

It hurt so much…

Silver and red all over my body…

The world swam and shook–

A shock of pain jolted into the base of my skull, getting a small cry from me, "Gah! The-… the hell…?"

"Lexmechanic! Open up!"

"What…?" my face scrunched up, taking a trembling, bubbling breath as I tried to bring myself back to reality–

"Throne. Titus! Get up there!" A feminine voice…? "Ordnatus Acies Dominus! In the name of the Inquisition, I order you to open up!

 **"001111100011111000100000010000010101001101000011010001010101001001010100010000010100100101001110010010010100111001000111001000000100001101010010010001010100010001000101010011100101010001001001010000010100110001010011."**

"Lady Inquisitor Lydia Veylan. Authorization Terra Ultraviolet Phi Four Thu'um…–" The world swam once more, flashes of static and the image of… the Inquisitor…? Her robes were singed and there were the guardsmen around her and a few others…? She was speaking again… what…?

 **"001111100011111000100000010000110101001001000101010001000100010101001110010101000100100101000001010011000101001100100000010000010100001101000011010001010101000001010100010001010100010000001101000010100011111000111110001000000100001101000001010100110101010000100000010010010100111000100000010101000100100001000101001000000100111001000001010011010100010100100000010011110100011000100000010001110100111101000100001110100010000001011001010001010010000001001110010011110101010000100000010001110101010101001001010011000101010001011001."**

The dim light of the glowing lake danced across my face as Ordnatus' cockpit opened with a hydraulic hiss–

"Chirurgeon! Get over here! Titus! Get the Lexmechanic out of there!"

There was a thump as the large form of the Astartes swam into my vision, a silver gauntlet reaching towards me– "At ease Lexmechanic, you've done the Emperor's work."

Blackness crept at the edges of my sight as the hard gauntlet gripped my shoulder and I was pulled forward, "The Emperor protects."

* * *

A.N. - This is a placeholder.


End file.
